


Defining Femininity

by serene_saber



Category: Meitantei Conan | Detective Conan | Case Closed
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Crossdressing, F/M, Fem!Shinichi, Gen, Genderbending, I'm sorry I really am, abused artistic license, if you are lucky, in other words generally gender confused, kinda-but-not shoujo-ai, kinda-but-not shounen-ai, not-so-surely het, one-sided HeiShin, one-sided ShinRan, snail-speed update, though I wouldn't be sure
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-04-22
Updated: 2016-06-18
Packaged: 2017-12-09 05:03:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 27,020
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/770278
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/serene_saber/pseuds/serene_saber
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It isn't easy for a girl to be a detective, especially a male detective. Running from ruthless hunters, hiding from perceptive best friends and fellow detectives while fending off perplexing advances from certain slippery thieves, Kudou Shinichi struggles to protect all she holds dear, including the One Truth and her own identity.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

 

The soft clicking of boots and high-heels resounded through the otherwise silent hall. It was late in the afternoon, and the orange light of the dying sun burnt through the glass windows, leaving deep shades in corners untouched. The air seemed to stand as still as it could, as if fearing to breathe in the faint whiff of chemicals and antiseptics lurking behind the closed doors of storerooms and laboratories. Yet, comfortably unconcerned with breaking this apprehensive stifling atmosphere, the two shadows continued to move leisurely toward the exit of the building, their jobs here satisfactorily concluded.

"So this is where the notorious APTX 4869 was born." The more slender figure in black began conversationally.

"...Yes, who would think such a normal-looking pharmaceutical factory is the manufacturer of that deadly wonder." The other, obviously more masculine mass answered.

"To think, an accomplishment of an eighteen-year-old genius put all of our traditional … _protective measures_ to shame. And she won't stop there, will she?" The woman continued with a meaningful lift of the tone.

"... No, she won't be able to." Her companion hesitantly agreed again, understanding the implication behind her words, yet not where she intended to lead them. He really shouldn't let it trouble him, though. Her inner working was something few people could understand, let alone deal with.

He glanced sideways in an attempt of gauging her expressions, but didn't see anything besides the soft long blond hair which hid the features he knew were luscious and secretive as ever, he abandoned the half-hearted effort and kept his silence.

As he expected, she didn't need much of his input to speak again. "It's not like she has any place to turn to, anyway. Have you heard about her sister?"

Yes, he had. And she knew that. He answered her anyway. "Such foolish notion, retiring from the organization and beginning their lives anew? Well, she's got what she wished in the end, just without her darling little sister."

His companion chuckled at his cutting cynicism. "Losing it all and for nothing, is that what you want to say, my dear Calvados?"

Hiding the delicious shivers her whispering his name elicited, he bit his reply, "Don't you find it foolish too, Vermouth?"

She breathed out another sinful laugh, "Why yes, of course. But it _is_ a bit cruel of you to say that to the young genius eavesdropping over there, isn't it ... _Sherry_?"

Surprised, Calvados turned back, staring at the dark corner on his left where a silhouette stepped out, the feature brightened under the now reddish sunlight. It was indeed Sherry, her hair shone blood red, her slender figure still cloaked in the white lab coat hanging to her knees. Her hands were hidden in her coat pocket, but the sniper's keen eyes could clearly detect the intense trembling of her clenching fists. She'd heard the whole thing, then.

Wondering if this was Vermouth's intention all along - one could never be sure with the famed actress, Calvados was more than content to let her handle this.

After a beat of silence, Vermouth drawled out with an air of a cat savoring its victory over the cornered prey, "How _pleasurable_ meeting you here, Sherry. I've been wanting to congratulate you on your latest contribution to our organization. You're indeed your father and mother's daughter." She paused here for effect, and then, "Unlike your late sister," she added as if an afterthought. Calvados could almost hear the smirk of dark humor in her tone.

Sherry obviously could hear it too, yet all she did was glare at the older woman with flaring hatred, seemingly too furious to utter anything.

"Now that APTX has passed the last phase of experimentation with flying colors, it is fully authorized to be our ultimate measure." With one hand she tucked the straying lock of hair behind her ear, not hiding anymore the wicked amusement in her eyes. Vermouth leisurely continued, "We will need more of it soon. In fact, _Anokata_ has great plans for it tomorrow night."

Ah yes, tomorrow night. Tomorrow night would be the night the Kudou's were obliterated. Calvados was not high enough on the chain of command to know the details, but it seemed the famous detective family had nosed a bit too deep into the affairs of the organization, and thus were decided to be dealt with for secret protection. Typical organization's fashion. There would be nothing left for clues, nothing that could be tracked back to even the smallest hint of the organization's existence. APTX 4869, obviously, was an excellent choice for this. It had already been tested on humans, enemies of the organization, and was confirmed to cause death without leaving a trace.

Vermouth turned away. She must have decided the conversation was over, with no need of input whatsoever from the other conversation partner. She sauntered toward the bright exit door, tossing over her shoulder a goodbye in the same mocking articulation.

"Keep taking care of your job, will you, _Sherry_? You know what will happen if you choose _her_ way."

After throwing a final glance back at the still mute, still trembling young girl to make sure she wouldn't attack Vermouth in a mad, futile attempt at revenge, Calvados quickly followed Vermouth out.

So Vermouth did have something planned when she led him along like that. She wanted to warn Sherry off any desires to head down her sister's road of betrayal, didn't she? Vermouth was such a dangerous woman. He didn't mind that much though. He couldn't help it if it was exactly what enticed him to her like nothing else.

But did she really need to bait Sherry like that? Shaking his head, he dismissed the thought, taking it as another thing that he would find forever incomprehensible about Vermouth, and about women, in general.

* * *

Stepping out of the steaming bathroom, Vermouth padded barefoot to the velvet sofa of the hotel suite, her lush long hair and delicate neck still a little wet with moisture. A single bath towel snugly embraced her body's voluptuous curves, barely holding in the gently rising of her full bosom. Its length tantalizingly stopped just after sensually hugging her wide hips and perfectly round bottom, leaving out the milky smoothness of her thighs to be freely flirted with by the cool night air.

With an absent-minded yet elegant gesture she sat down with her legs crossed and lit a cigarette. This was one of the few vices she had and allowed herself to keep in her entirely too long life. The familiar smell of tobacco calmed her nerves, especially on days like these. Glancing back at her almost full ashtray, she exhaled another smoky cloud, leaning her head back against the sofa. Yes, especially on days like these.

If this had been a movie drama, and she had been its tragic female protagonist, she would have lovingly taken out a precious picture, sadly reminded herself of a past long gone, and maybe shed a few regretful tears for the people she once and still held close to her heart. But this was not a movie, and she was little better than an antagonist. All the evidences remotely hinting at her true identity had already been destroyed, even if they were just an old picture of her "mother" together with her best friend and some teenagers she met that one time.

That was a piece of the life she should have just gotten over but never did. Instead, she found herself going back again and again in the stream of memories, recollecting the bubbly laughing and sincerely buoyant chattering of Yukiko, whose company once upon a time had given her so much freshness and enjoyment. Then there was Angel, with her shy yet passionate purity, whose heartfelt tears were like a balm of salvation to Vermouth's frazzled, wounded soul.

And of course, there was Cool Girl.

 _A force of nature_ , she had thought that the first time witnessing the female detective's intellect onstage. Sharp blue eyes, sharp words, sharp mind and an even sharper will, the young girl of mere sixteen ruthlessly cut through the shameful deceit, as if it was just a pitiful scrap of worn-out fabric, leaving nothing but the naked truth behind. But that wasn't all - sharp ruthless truth was not all she had.

_"I wouldn't understand the motives for killing a person, but...Why should there be a logical mind in saving a life?"_

Standing protectively between her best friend and the disguised Vermouth, the detective had looked straight into the criminal's eyes with candid seriousness in her too blue eyes - seriousness that belied her sixteen year of age - and then spoken with words that pierced right through the criminal's heart. And when Vermouth's nerves were still sent fumbling by the words still ringing in the air, the young girl had helped her friend up and turned away, but not before calmly dissuading the gun holder from committing any more attacks.

The image of the young detective's back as she walked away with her best friend had burned into Vermouth's mind, with her straight hair gathered in a neat ponytail, simple boyish clothing and confident departing promise.

_"However, I won't show any mercy if I ever see you again. I will prove your cumulative crimes and evil deeds with all evidences necessary. Trust me, I will put you in jail for good!"_

The young detective's dauntless conviction should have been entirely worthy of a scoff, yet for some reason just made her earlier message more admirable to Vermouth.

_"Why should there be a logical mind in saving a life?"_

That was the last thing Vermouth had expected to hear from a detective with such dedication for justice. That was the last thing she had expected herself to clutch and cradle so dearly, as if that was her only saving grace in this suffocating world.

She never expected herself to be moved by something so flimsy and naive and on a whole so very sickeningly idealistic as that. But she was. And now sat she on this sofa, smoking one cigarette after another and trying to distract herself from what she alone didn't have the ability to change.

Tomorrow night, the Kudou's would be on fire. The organization would never rest until that task was completed and all the three members of the Kudou family were confirmed dead. Vermouth might be able to postpone the inevitable once, at best twice, but the third time, she would not. She would be dead before trying.

What she could have done, she did, and now she would have to console herself with just waiting.

_The Kudou's will be on fire tomorrow night. Will you be too, Cool Girl?_

_Will Fate abandon you, or will She stay by your side?_

_I have given you my help, now the rest depends on you. Show me what you can become, Silver Bullet._

.

.


	2. Premonition

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Despite whatever Vermouth has led you to believe, dear readers, please be assured that Shin-chan is the main character still. That's why Vermouth is in the prologue and not the first chapter. :D

 

_\- Save... -_

_Where was she? Why was she walking in this darkness?_

_\- Please... -_

_Who was pleading? Who...?_

_\- Please save... -_

_The air was chilling. The dark was enclosing around her. The dead silence was overwhelming, yet at the same time indifferent and unresponsive._

_What, silence...? Did that person stop? Why did they stop? Was she ...too late?_

_Shinichi broke into a run, her heart frantically thrumming with unknown fear. Faster, faster, faster!_

_There!_

_A beautiful woman was lying on the ground, her long black hair spread out around her like a pool of black blood. The woman looked into Shinichi's eyes, feeble life draining away with every breath she took._

_"Please," she mouthed soundlessly, "...save... my sister."_

_Blood from her gaping belly kept oozing out with each pulse despite whatever Shinichi did to stop it from flowing. It soaked every inch of her clothes it touched, and spread and spread like a horrid virus, swallowing the helpless frail body into its unforgiving darkness. And soon Shinichi was left all alone._

_...No, not alone. Someone was watching her...?_

_Apprehensively, Shinichi turned around. Burning red eyes watched her dispassionately from the pitch black. Eyes of many crows. They silently materialized before her eyes, their number doubling, tripling. They surrounded her, blocking any way of escape._

_A flutter of wings smacked her on the side of her head and then sharp talons clutched at her shoulder with painful viciousness._

_"We've got you," they crowed, their voices echoing in booming unity, "Kudou Shin-"_

"Shinichi!"

Startled out of her deep day-mare, Shinichi ducked out of someone's grip on her shoulder, trembling with the struggle not to scream out loud. But that person was persistent, trying to catch her again.

_"We've got you, Shini-"_

"Shinichi! Wake up! What's wrong?" The distress in a familiar voice shook her out of the remaining hallucination. Shinichi slowly blinked, the pumping adrenaline hesitantly dissipated and awareness seeping back into her mind again. Ran was standing before her, Ran's hands caught in her grips - her quite harsh grips, Shinichi embarrassingly realized.

Hoping she hadn't done anything even more mortifying, she quickly released Ran's hands. "Sorry, Ran. Are you okay?" she blushed. Suddenly remembering something equally important, which she had a nagging feeling she really didn't want to face, she nervously glanced around. Oh no, she totally didn't. All of her classmates had stopped what they were doing and instead, were openly staring at her, amazement and curiosity plain on their faces. She blushed deeper, feeling like disappearing right then and there. _Or even better, just jump out of the windows, the height of three stories should do the trick_ , she mentally despaired.

Ran's anxious voice drew her out again. "Shinichi? Are you okay?"

Shinichi looked back into the eyes of her childhood friend, gentle, concerned and nonjudgmental as ever. Feeling bad for making Ran worry, Shinichi shook her head.

"I'm fine. Just an …unpleasant dream, I guess." Yeah, just a dream. No need to keep being bothered by this. It was irrational and she knew better.

Ran sat down at the desk beside her, bowing her head slightly and peered into Shinichi's eyes, utterly unconvinced. "Is it really, Shinichi? You've never been this shaken with just a dream before."

Uncomfortable with all the attention focused on her - her classmates were _still_ staring and listening in - Shinichi fidgeted, trying to find what to say. "Ah... no..."

A sudden bang shattered the eavesdropping silence. Suzuki Sonoko's voice rang out with all its ear-piercing impressiveness.

"WHAT are you people staring for? Get back to your _own_ damn business!"

No one would want to enrage the resident queen, of course. After glaring around and generally making sure no one else was over-curious, Sonoko rounded back on Shinichi and Ran. She cocked an eyebrow, and demanded.

"So? What's this all about?"

 _Obviously, she had no intention of doing the same thing,_ Shinichi sardonically thought, but wisely kept that bit to herself. "It's nothing, really. I'm just not getting enough sleep lately," she said to Ran instead.

This didn't seem to appease Ran. In fact, it made her even more worried. "Has something happened?" She tentatively asked.

Shinichi waved her hands hurriedly in denial, wanting nothing more than to reassure her best friend. "No, nothing at all. I just keep remembering some past cases, that's all."

"Ah hah!" Sonoko interrupted with a smug exclamation. "The detective otaku has nightmares about dead bodies now? Finally! You're just a human like us, after all!"

"Sonoko!" Ran, loyal friend to Shinichi as she was always, sternly reprimanded her other best friend.

"What? It's true!" Sonoko whined. "Remember last week's roller coaster murder? You and I bawled our eyes out and she didn't even bat an eyelash. I have had nightmares for days!" She dramatically flung her arms into the air. "Now I don't even dare wear my sautoir necklace. And I'm never sitting on any roller coaster ever again!"

She loomed over Shinichi again, eyes gleaming with sadistic pleasure. "I bet you are dreaming of beheaded zombies now, aren't you? Tell me you'll never want to wear a long necklace ever in your life."

Slightly creeped out, but having had a good guess of where this was going, Shinichi replied, "I don't wear necklaces." No she didn't. It was stupid to wear something irate criminals could grab and strangle you with. "But why are you afraid of it now?"

"Need you ask?" Sonoko with her theatrics again, Shinichi and Ran exchanged an amused look. "If I wear a necklace, it can get caught anywhere, and what if it's stuck in the car speeding against mine and is dragged along? Whoosh, my neck is finished and my head's down rolling on the ground." With a flourish of her hand, she ended her short dramatic soliloquy.

Ran just widen her eyes with incredulity and then said with long-practiced sufferance, "Sonoko, you do know how ridiculous that sounds, don't you?"

"What? It's possible! It's improbable but it's possible!"

Shinichi just sighed. Sonoko was, of course, talking about the decapitation case at Tropical Land the week before. The three had gone to the amusement park to celebrate Ran's victory in the city karate tournament. They had had a great time before deciding on the Mystery roller coaster. The ride was for eight people, and with all of the other guests going in pairs, Shinichi was the only single one. Thus she had given up the ride and persuaded Ran and Sonoko to have fun without her. She would wait for them at the stop with refreshments and really she wasn't missing much - she had been on one in the US and the trip should be more or less the same.

Well, in retrospect, maybe she shouldn't have said that. It made Sonoko kind of cross with her. For some weird reasons, Sonoko had accompanied her family to the US several times and not even once was able to experience their roller coasters.

Personally Shinichi believed the problem was in the abundant shopping trips. Not that she would ever tell Sonoko such things.

Fifteen minutes later found Shinichi waiting at the stop with cold Cokes, expecting the two girls to come out of the ride with the usual hysterical mix of terror and exhilaration, only to hear hysterical, terrified screams instead. She threw the Cokes aside and ran in, witnessing the last moment of the headless body on the coaster seat spurting out its bloody splashes, staining Ran and Sonoko's clothes in the deep crimson. Swiftly, she snapped everyone out of their shock, made Ran call the police and an ambulance before starting the accustomed procedure of preserving the crime scene.

It had taken some time for the police to come, and a little bit longer for them to interrogate the suspects. But it took little time to figure out who was the culprit and take her away. It was nothing out of ordinary for Shinichi; in her relatively short high school detective career, she had heard and witnessed people murdering with methods more brutal and for reasons less sane than this. And she had learnt to deal with them all. She had to, because she simply loved this job.

It was an awful and abnormal thing for a girl, but it was the truth. The truth was one thing Kudou Shinichi would never run away from.

Ran and Sonoko, on the other hand, were just normal girls. Extraordinary in their own ways, certainly, but they were soft, emotional and vulnerable in the ways girls were supposed to be. They were not programmed and trained to butt heads with these atrocious acts of mankind, not like Shinichi. So it was very much understandable that Sonoko would have nightmares and maybe phobia after this.

"The string of your sautoir necklace, Sonoko, is made of nylon, not steel piano wires." Shinichi firmly cut in the still going on argument between her two friends, making them stop. "It has the ultimate tensile strength of mere 75 MPa, whereas your neck muscle, bone and skin have the collective sheer strength of 135. Not to mention the thickness of your neck leaves that of your tiny string in dust."

Catching the absolute incomprehension on Sonoko and Ran's faces, Shinichi shortly concluded, "Which means, the string would break first before it left any deep marks on your skin, Sonoko. You would be easily fixed even if _that_ happens." She put an intentional stress on the word "that" to better convey her total skepticism.

"Really now?" Sonoko raised an eyebrow, throwing away her melodrama. "Then pray tell, what happened in your nightmares?"

Turning to look at Ran and seeing her staring too with the same expectancy, Shinichi sighed. "Look, it's-"

The bell rang, signalling the end of the lunch break and inadvertently saving Shinichi from another attempt of friend-reassuring.

"We'll talk later, okay?" Ran said, still bothered by her friend's previous anxiety. Sonoko just spared them a glance before snorted and returned to her seat. Ran followed her.

The rest of Shinichi's classes passed by slowly and predictably without incident. Yet the feeling of disconcertion kept plaguing Shinichi's mind. Nightmares, like Ran said, had never affected her like this. Hadn't for many years. With the dose of criminals and mutilated corpses she increasingly had to face in her everyday life, she had soon drilled herself to the habit of locking all of them aside even in her sleep, saving them just for when their information was needed. Even if their ghostly impression managed to come back somehow, she was proficient at ignoring them and concentrating on her real, present life. That seemed impossible these days, however.

The dream she had before was the same dream she had had lately, minus a few deviations. Although Shinichi understood where it came from, she couldn't rationalize the reasons that scenario haunted her subconsciousness so relentlessly. She hadn't lied to Ran about getting little sleep the past few days.

It did begin at that murder on the coaster, but not in the way Sonoko imagined. On that roller coaster ride there had been people even more unforgettable to Shinichi than the murderer and her victim. They were two men, physique conspicuous yet age indiscernible, covering themselves almost head to toes in black. When the police asked for their names for the investigation, they adamantly refused, claiming it was their right not to reveal their identities before proven guilty. Which naturally smelled rather fishy. They _could_ be some kind of celebrities going out incognito just for fun, yes, but Shinichi doubted it very much.

It was quite obvious that they weren't the kind of people who rode roller coasters for excitement. The sturdy man with black suit and black sunglasses looked suspicious enough, but the one with long silver hair... Shinichi still felt the chill she had had when looking into his eyes. They were definitely the eyes of a killer, one who had killed and would kill again without wasting a second thought. She had encountered too many criminals not to recognize those eyes.

His temper proved her right, too. Sure, people with short-temper would grow impatient and irritated when being kept from their business by some ...inconvenience due to no faults of their own. But no one would _rage_. Besides, if they had indeed gone to the amusement park for entertainment, they should have had time to spare, should they not? They were not involved in the murder, but they were involved in _something_ \- this Shinichi was completely certain.

That was the reason why when Shinichi caught sight of the sunglasses man after the crime was concluded, she had immediately said goodbye to Ran and Sonoko and set off to tail him, fully intending to root out all his seedy business ...only to be held back by Sonoko.

Sonoko had grasped her by the hood of her jacket and forcefully pulled her back like a cat pulling her wayward kitten by the nape of its neck. "Hey," she had demanded, "where do you think you were going, leaving us like this?"

Hurriedly trying to free herself, Shinichi protested, "Let me go Sonoko, I need to check on something..." She had severely underestimated Sonoko's clutching ability, of course.

"Don't tell me you're gonna spy on someone, you detective freak," Sonoko said. "Look. It's dark, and Ran is worried. We'll go with you."

Shinichi looked back at Ran, and yes, Ran's anxious crinkles in her forehead betrayed her silence; she was worried sick. Then the begging look in her eyes disappeared, and Ran said, determined, "Yes, Shinichi, we _will_ go with you."

Shinichi said, exasperated, "I'm a detective. I'm good with these stuffs. I can deal with this alone you know."

"I don't care. Girls have got to stick together," Sonoko declared, unwavering.

Turning her head toward where the suspicious man had disappeared, and turning back at her two persistent best friends, Shinichi heaved a long sigh. They wouldn't find out where he was going in this darkness, and she wouldn't put Ran and Sonoko at such a risk. She still remembered the eyes of the long-haired-man.

"No need," she declined, shaking her head, "we'll go home."

And they did, without finding any more information on the two black men. Shinichi should have been more annoyed with Sonoko about that, but she couldn't muster up the emotion to be. Sonoko did what she did because she was caring for Ran, and maybe even for Shinichi a little bit. Unconsciously, Shinichi smiled. That was Sonoko for you.

Loudly and forcibly, yet always generously, Sonoko gave away her care, and would never hesitate to help a friend she deemed in need. When the girls around Shinichi behaved more or less reservedly toward her, overwhelmed by everything about the female detective - her fame, her family, her hobbies, her perceptive eyes and her lightning-fast mind - Sonoko was undaunted and undeterred. To her, Shinichi was Ran's best friend, and Ran was her best friend, which made Shinichi her friend too; there was nothing complicated about that. So what if Shinichi was a detective and liked jumping headlong into danger for thrills? In the end, they were all girls, and girls stuck together.

That didn't mean Shinichi would let Sonoko in the next time she wanted to catch some shady characters though. Shinichi _could_ deal with whatever might happen. She would never have stood where she was right now by depending on others to help her out. Certainly, she had to trust the police autopsy department in diagnosing the dead or trust the police manpower in apprehending criminals, but when necessary, she was always ready to do all that on her own. After all, when she was just beginning this unusual part-time job, no dutiful police officers would let a stranger look into their autopsy reports, or, God forbid, let a brat - a girl at that - dictate which culprit to detain. Yes, in the beginning, Kudou Shinichi had been essentially all by herself.

She didn't know what she could have seen or done if she followed the black sunglasses man alone. Yet her intuition, which she still had a complicated relationship with even after years, kept telling her that _that_ was important. That the man and whatever he had been involved in were important. She couldn't explain this feeling, but something definitely felt _missing_ when she had decided to abandon the pursuit. It was as if she had just decided to throw away an important piece of the puzzle in a game she was destined to be part of. What was more, she couldn't begin to imagine _why_ she would feel like that. It was all very maddening.

The feeling came back with full force with an even more maddening case, the One billion yen robbery. The case was fully concluded three days ago with the death of the three culprits and the return of the robbed money, but it gave Shinichi no satisfaction.

According to the police report, the robbery was committed by Hirota Kenzou, Higurashi Johei and Miyano Akemi. Hirota Kenzou then betrayed his accomplices and ran away with the money. Higurashi and Miyano tried to find him by hiring detectives as Hirota's only family, and when they found him with the help of Mouri Kogoro, they murdered Hirota by suffocation. While on the run, Miyano poisoned Higurashi in his room at the hotel, and committed suicide herself at a shipping yard. She died from a gun wound on her stomach and a gun with her fingerprints was found nearby. The missing one billion yen was then located at the hotel reception by Kudou Shinichi, high school detective.

Shinichi and the Mouri family were involved in this case almost since the beginning. The Miyano girl had come to Kogorou for help to find her "dad", and the police had called Shinichi in when they found Hirota Kenzou hung from the ceiling. They received the news of Higurashi's death and Miyano's disappearance not long after. With a little deduction, Shinichi was able to relate them all to the one billion yen robbery, thus pinpointing the robbed money without much problem. Soon after the money was inspected and confiscated, the shipping yard security reported to the police Miyano's cold body.

In the eyes of the police, this case had been wrapped and served to them with a neat little bow. To Shinichi however, there were so many things wrong - so many questions left without answers.

The first one was Miyano Akemi's death. Why did she leave the money at the hotel reception and then go out to commit suicide? If she felt regret, why didn't she just take the same poison she used on Higurashi, and just kill herself there? It would have been much less painful than the gun shot in the stomach. Why must she take all the troubles?

The second was a message Miyano left behind where she died. She had used her own blood to write a message on the ground then used her body to cover it. It read, _"Please save my sister from the crows."_ This alone was worrying, not only because the name Miyano Akemi on the police database had no sister, but also because the dead had used such an unconventional method to write her last will. If this was indeed suicide and Miyano had the time, why didn't she just use pen and paper? And why did she, in that agonizing state, bother to cover it up? What was she afraid of?

There was also the third mystery, and this was what unsettled Shinichi the most. A day after Miyano's body was found, the bloody message Shinichi had seen with her own eyes just _disappeared_ from the police report. There was no photos taken of it when there _must_ have been! Shinichi had quickly ran to that shipping yard to confirm the evidence, but the actual message had been erased. The ground where it had been was wet but clean, and _no one_ knew who was responsible for the cleansing.

All of those events implicated that someone else was standing behind these terrible crimes.

Someone - or some people, if that was what _"the crows"_ in Miyano's message indicated - had organized the robbery, and then proceeded to wipe out all their puppets and the evidences leading back to them. They had captured Miyano Akemi's sister, and very likely had used her to force Miyano's hand. And last but not least, they had the ability to infiltrate the police and destroy a case's evidence, possibly even tamper with the police database.

Shinichi clenched her fists; the silent terror of her nightmare came to grip her heart again, and following it, her resolution. She was likely to be facing something monstrous and unknown - something she had never encountered before. But she'd let herself be _damned_ before she surrendered without fighting.

_The crows, huh? I won't let you escape for long. The next time we meet, I will definitely bring you out to Justice!_

* * *

_Shinichi is spacing out again,_ thought Ran, observing her childhood friend from her own seat. They were in the History class, and the teacher was more lenient with her distracted students so long as they didn't fall asleep. And besides, Shinichi was excellent at automatically copying down teachers' lectures when she was deep in thought, so even if she didn't actually hear a word they said, no teachers would call her on that. Kudou Shinichi was, after all, one of the school's most prized students.

But Shinichi getting scowled at by the teacher wasn't what Ran was worrying about. What made Ran worry was the fact that Shinichi was acting very strange lately. Ever since the one billion yen robbery case, Shinichi was always spacing out, and when she was not, she was almost _jumpy_. She would become suddenly alert with some random comments passing by. She would chase after shadows with abandon then return to her state of inattentiveness. And she would startle with every touch intended to draw her back to reality.

Here Ran slightly touched her wrists, where the ghost of Shinichi's grips still stubbornly remained. It didn't hurt anymore, of course. Ran's wrists were pretty tough. How could she win the karate tournament otherwise? But they had yet to stop _aching_. This was one of the very few times in her life that Shinichi had treated Ran with anything other than care, protection and gentleness. Well, there were times when Shinichi just left Ran behind, so bent on her goals of pursuing justice, but Ran knew in Shinchi's heart, she honestly believed it would be better for Ran to be worried than to be harmed. This time, however... Shinichi had looked at Ran as if she had been her _enemy_.

Ran shuddered, a chill running down her spine when she recalled that look. In her dreaming unawareness, Shinichi for a brief moment had stared at Ran with a crazed mixture of terror, anger and defensiveness - she had looked like she had been a cornered prey, desperate enough to sacrifice itself _striking back_.

For almost their entire lives together, her calm, collected, loving Shinichi had never looked at her like that. And what Ran wouldn't do for Shinichi to never ever look at her like that again!

Something terrible plagued Shinichi's mind, Ran was sure. Now Shinichi wasn't getting enough sleep too and that clearly showed on her face. Ran glanced back at the still inattentive Shinichi, noting again the frown between her friend's eyebrows and the darkening bags beneath her glazed, tired eyes. Yet when Ran asked again and again, worried sick, Shinichi had the nerves to say nothing, nothing, _nothing_! What did that stupid detective take Ran for, an idiot? She'd known her for _all her life_ , for God's sake! Why couldn't the fool just. Let. Her. In!

_Crack!_

"Erm... Ran?" Sonoko's call pulled her temporarily out of her mental fuming.

Ran turned back to her friend sitting behind her, her smile a little strained, "What is it, Sonoko?" Her voice somehow sounded a bit louder than usual. Or was the class more silent than usual?

"Do you need a new pen? You seem to need a new one..." Sonoko trailed off, eyes flickering meaningfully at Ran's hand. Ran's clenching hand, to be exact.

Ran bemusedly looked down, only to discover her pitiful, now useless, pen had snapped into three.

Well, she hadn't noticed.

"Ah... yeah. Sonoko, do you have a spare one?" Ran asked, mortified now that she understood why her class was silent all of a sudden.

Sonoko sighed loudly, but gave her one anyway. "Don't snap mine too, okay?"

Ran blushed, "Of … of course not! Thanks, Sonoko."

Ran turned back to her note and barely caught Sonoko mumbling under her breath, _"...not one but_ two _idiots, I swear!"_

When the class continued on after its brief respite, Ran threw a quick peek at Shinichi again. _Yes, still out of it. Can't even be sure if she noticed me breaking something._ Ran bit back a sigh, raising her resolve. _After school, I'll drag that moron out and force everything out of her. Everything!_

* * *

After what seemed like forever, the last bell rang. Ran kept an eye on Shinichi until they were all by the shoe lockers at the exit of the building. Shinichi was still lost in thought and was doing everything more or less mechanically. This just strengthened Ran's determination to corner Shinichi once they were off campus, and coerce everything she had on her mind out. By tears or by fists if Ran had to. She would _not_ let Shinichi escape before she had some answers!

"Ohhh... look! Another lovesick fool finally gathers enough courage!" someone standing behind Ran whispered excitedly.

Ran blinked, looked back at the whisperer to figure out who they were talking about, and saw two snickering girls staring pointedly at the door where Shinichi was preparing to leave. Approaching her was a pretty good-looking guy, his steps slow, almost timid, which actually looked quite amusing on a tall, sturdy guy like him. Was that the guy from the school soccer club?

After taking a visible deep breath, the young man cleared his throat and said with a seemingly confident voice, "Hey, Kudou-chan."

It took Shinichi a few seconds to register the call and turn back. She blinked, then tilted her head slightly in confusion. "Yes, Honda-kun?" she answered, obviously recognized the other.

This seemed to take "Honda-kun" aback. He stuttered, his initial confidence nowhere to be seen, "K-Kudou-ch-chan, you know m-me?" His eyes lit up and his face was starting to show the first hint of red.

Shinichi blinked again, then with a smile tugging on her lips, she said, "Of course, you are Honda Keisuke, freshman, the newest defender of the school soccer club, aren't you?" Before he could open his mouth to say anything, she blissfully continued, "I know everyone's name and position in the soccer club. I'm your fan, you know." She finished with an easy grin on her face.

Ran had to bite back a laugh there, and according to the sounds she heard around her, she wasn't the only one. _Poor boy,_ she thought, _he must be crushed._

Said poor boy clearly had trouble deciding how to react to Shinichi's words. On one hand, he had been lifted up to cloud nine, hearing Shinichi know that much about him, just to be squashed down hearing Shinichi in fact knew everything about everybody - it seemed the "your" Shinichi meant was not _his_ "your" after all, but the _entire_ soccer team - so he should have been feeling very disappointed. But,...

 _But, but, but... she is so_ cute, _grinning like that!_

Ran could almost hear what the blushing boy was thinking, having seen so many confessions unfolding the same way.

Don't misunderstand her, Shinichi was indeed a very serious girl, who rarely openly smiled at anyone who wasn't close. More often than not, her sharp blue eyes could cut steel, and could cut _you_ if you were a criminal. When she didn't aim that deadly, knowing stare at you, she could be less intimidating, but somehow unapproachable still - Shinichi had that cold, striking beauty which must have been the product of her mother's delicate elegance and her father's solemn handsomeness. Even Ran, a fellow girl, had to admit, Shinichi was stunning. Stunning, but not cute. Shinichi didn't do _cute_. Usually, at least. Not unless someone prompted her to talk about her obsessive hobbies. Or started to confess their love to her. Then Shinichi could very well be the cutest thing on Earth, which she, needless to say, had never noticed.

What all the crushing fanboys and yes, fangirls out there should know was that, Kudou Shinichi, extraordinary detective, obsessive Sherlock Holmes fangirl, over-enthusiastic soccer player, was undeniably, totally, excessively... _clueless._ So if they wanted to confess to Shinichi about something not related to their hidden evil deeds, they had better plan carefully, because the oblivious genius would never, ever take the hint! Just watch.

"Neh, Honda-kun, do you want us to go somewhere more private?" Shinichi asked, a contemplative look on her face.

"Wha-wha-what?" Honda-kun croaked, plainly not believing his ears and thus looking that gift horse in the mouth. The boy would woefully regret it, Ran was sure.

Shinichi sighed, making a show of scanning the boy up and down. "Something is troubling you," she firmly declared. "You are the newest defender, which means a lot of practice, but you're risking your after school session to come here and talk to me. You should be disapproved by your senior members, but..." Shinichi tossed her head toward something over the boy's shoulder and continued, "your captain and the whole team are out there, watching us."

Ignoring the boy's crimson embarrassment, Shinichi carried on, "Which means this is no trivial matter. It is likely something only between you and the team, if the crowd is bothering you like this." She paused to gauge the boy's expression, which was getting closer and closer to crying by every word she said. "So am I right? There is some problem you want me to solve?"

The snickering around got louder. There was even someone bursting out laughing. He was immediately shushed down, but the idiot kept throwing in his two cents, _"Yes! He wants you to solve his frustration! Ha haa-"_

Shinichi turned around and _glared_. The blabbering idiot shut up with a pathetic _eep!_ and cowered, slinking away out of sight.

Shinichi turned back to the now much, much smaller freshman, softening her eyes she said, "That's why I suggested we go somewhere more private." Then on a teasing note, she added, "I'm a detective, not a murderer. I won't kill you when we're alone, you know." She smiled with amusement, and was, naturally, completely ignorant of the fact she _was_ killing him, in _public_.

Taking pity on Honda-kun, whose nerves, ego and whatever grand confession he had prepared must have deserted him, Ran approached the two, intent on saving the poor guy.

She touched Shinichi on the elbow, starting to pull her away, "Come on, Shinichi, let the poor guy be."

Wide-eyed, Shinichi resisted her. "Huh? What are you saying Ran? He's the one asking for my help!" She protested.

Sonoko appeared on Shinichi's other side, adding force to the rescue, "No, he didn't, you waste of a pretty face. Come on, get going."

When Shinichi was dragged away for some meters, Sonoko looked back and said to Honda-kun, who was getting patted on the back by commiserating boys all around, "Advice for you, Honda-kun, you should be blunt next time. Stick it on your forehead or something. That is, if you still want this moron, though I can't imagine why."

"What do you mean by that!" shouted the resident moron.

"Keep going!" shouted back Sonoko. Ran just couldn't stop herself from laughing.

"Ran, what are you laughing about?" Shinichi whined, renewing her resistance. They were almost near the school-gate now, so Ran and Sonoko let her slow down, just keeping a hand on Shinichi's elbows in case she decided to turn around and return to tormenting the hapless boy.

"Nothing, Shinichi, nothing at all," Ran gave in to her last chuckles. Honestly, how could such a brilliant detective be this clueless? This was beyond her understanding. There had even been a time when Shibuya-kun of class 2-D was desperate enough to stick on his head a paper that read _"I like you, Shinichi"_ before coming to stand in front of the detective. And guess what she'd said to him? _"Er, Shibuya-kun, don't you know that you've got a pranking paper on your forehead? Here, let me get it for you."_

Sometimes Ran almost thought Shinichi was aware of it all, but pretended to be oblivious for reasons indecipherable. But Ran had known Shinichi for a long time, and she knew that wasn't true. Shinichi had a heart of gold, and would never play with others' feelings like that. The detective was just totally incapable of understanding how anyone, especially strangers, could really be interested in her romantically. Of course, the criminals that always tried to seduce her in hope of swaying her certitude did not help.

Ran relinquished her touch on Shinichi's elbow, a cloud of dejection suddenly weighing down on her. Both consciously and unconsciously, Shinichi had closed her heart off to everybody.

Not even excluding Ran.

"Ran?" Shinichi's question was hesitant. "What's wrong?"

Ran looked into the worrying blue eyes—eyes that was worrying for _her_ , "Shinichi, can we talk?"

Shinichi began, "Ran, if this is about my bad dreams, I've been telling you-"

"Nothing, Shinichi, you've been telling me nothing!" shouted Ran, her frustration breaking out.

"Because it really is _nothing_ , Ran!" Shinichi exclaimed. "There is nothing that you should be worried about!"

Before Ran could say anything about _that - how dare she-!,_ Shinichi put up a hand, stopping her in her tracks. "Listen Ran. Even if it _is_ something important, I can't tell you either because I _don't_ know what it is!" Then she lowered her voice again, "It is just a feeling I have, and it's totally irrational. We can't do anything about it anyway. We'll just have to wait for it to come. If it actually comes." She had paused before muttering the last words.

Ran kept silent. She didn't really know what to say.

Shinichi must have seen something in Ran's eyes though, so she turned on her soothing voice, the voice that she always reserved for Ran when her friend was in distress.

"Look, everything will be okay. Don't worry. I can deal with everything. You have to believe in me." Here, she smirked and posed, smug and confident as always, "After all, I'm Kudou Shinichi, Great detective."

This naturally compelled Sonoko to step in. With a hand from behind the oh-so-great-detective's head, she pushed her down and away. "You are a hopeless otaku, that's what you are."

"You just can't appreciate talents!" Fixing back her ponytail, Shinichi cried.

"Because you have none!"

"That wasn't what you said when you needed me!"

"That's kinda the point, isn't it? I'm not needing you now," concluded Sonoko, looking terribly pleased with herself.

Unable to suppress it anymore, Ran burst into a fit of giggles. Shinichi and Sonoko abandoned their antics to look at her and smirked. _Jerks._

"Well, then!" said Shinichi with a grin, clearly feeling self-satisfied. "You two go home. I'll go home later." She turned away, stretching her arms above her head.

"Shinichi, where are you going?" asked Ran. She couldn't help it.

"I promised Mom and Dad I'd come over their friend's party. Before that, I have to drop by the police to confirm something," answered Shinichi.

"Eh? Your parents are back? Since when?" asked Ran, surprised. Kudou Yusaku and Kudou Yukiko were always travelling around, and rarely came home to check on their daughter. Ran always thought it was rather irresponsible of them and admittedly did blame them a little for Shinichi's complete self-reliance.

"Since yesterday. I have to go now or I'll be late. God only knows what Mom will do to me if I am. See you tomorrow!" Shinichi waved her hand in goodbye, jogging away from her friends.

"...See you... Shinichi..." Ran murmured after her, suddenly feeling weak.

Sonoko turned to Ran and asked with concern, "Ran? Are you okay?"

"No..." Ran answered, following the running Shinichi with her eyes, suddenly wanting to cry. Oh God, why was that feeling she had at Tropical Land coming back to her again?

_That feeling... the feeling that Shinichi was going somewhere far, far away from her...?_

_.  
_

_._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to my beta, Sailorstar165, this chapter is fixed. Thank you, Sai.
> 
> I had had no intention of letting it turn out this long. At the end of this chapter, we were supposed to be somewhere much further along the plot, but then Ran demanded her thoughts be spoken, so I could only be happy to comply. After all, what's better for suspense than a little bit of waiting? Be patient, my dear readers. The promised adventure is on the way. The romance, however, will be with us much later. (Though some of you might find there are hints of it already.)
> 
> By the way, do you know that the name "Premonition" for the first chapter of a story is terribly overused? Imagine my surprise when I went and read another DC fic only to find the chapter name "Premonition" staring back at me (I was just planning my own chapter then). And when I decided to kill my time a little bit more and google "chapter 1 Premonition", the results were 14,700! Did anyone of you actually scream when you saw this chapter title?


	3. Of disguises

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, thanks to my dear beta, Sailorstar165, for fixing this chapter. And thanks to my readers for the waiting. Enjoy.

 

With the sounds of police sirens, of car doors slamming shut and hurried footsteps, with the floods of police officers coming and going at a brisk pace, talking amongst themselves or making phone calls in the same haste - Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department seemed fit to burst with activities.

It was a quarter past six, the end of the day shift for patrols. They were going back to the headquarter to change shifts and write reports. Rush hours were over so there was a lot to write on - Tokyo was larger than large and even more crowded, whose crime density was extreme, ranging from juvenile scuffles and petty thieves to robberies and murders. It just got worse when the sun went down.

In fact, Shinichi was a little surprised she hadn't run into any murders before reaching here. Sometimes she just felt as if criminals _had to_ have their fix of masochism by picking their crime stage somewhere along her way. The number of the murders Shinichi solved in first-hand encounters was absolutely ridiculous.

Keeping herself out of the way of rushing police officers, Shinichi moved through the entrance hall toward the security desk. If she had been official staff, she could have headed directly to the elevator and made her way to the floor of Division 1 at her own pass. But this had yet to be the case, so...

"Hi, Officer Hitoshi." Shinichi said her greeting to the young-looking security guard sitting at the desk, having swept her eyes over him, read his name tag and learned about his rank from the uniform badge.

"How can I help..." He turned to her, began, then paused to give her another look over. "Oh! Aren't you Kudou Shinichi, that high school detective girl they all call the Modern Irene?" He recognized her face at last.

With practiced ease, Shinichi hid her grimace at the nickname and gave him a polite smile instead. "I am."

Hitoshi grinned and excitingly continued, "I didn't recognize you at first! You look so different in the school uniform!"

Ah, _that_.

Teitan High School required its students to wear uniform. For boys, they had to wear a full suit with pants, shirt, coat and tie. As for girls, they also had their shirts, coats and ties, but instead of pants, they had to wear Shinichi's most despised attire - the one that had made Shinichi actually consider entering another school without her childhood friend.

 _Skirts_.

However the old Asian doctrines would have loved to school their women, Kudou Shinichi had never been in any way passive or docile. As a child, she had always enjoyed running, jumping and climbing in her comfortable boyish clothes - just simple jeans and T-shirts. This of course hadn't changed a bit when she grew up and found her new passion in kicking balls and criminals around. Even the famed actress Kudou Yukiko, Shinichi's mother and self-proclaimed stylist, could only force Shinichi into dainty skirts and pink lace blouses until she was six. Then Shinichi had become increasingly talented at hiding and escaping from her mother's dress-up games.

That alone told how much Shinichi disliked skirts, because Shinichi's getaway grated on Yukiko's nerves every time, and a displeased Yukiko was a mad woman notoriously gifted at making Shinichi's life hellish. Hellish and mortifying.

Needless to say how much Yukiko had rejoiced when Shinichi went to study at Teitan High School. Shinichi just knew there was a huge video and photo collection dedicated to the topic _"Shin-chan in a skirt!"_ hidden somewhere in their home for her mother's sadistic pleasure. Shinichi would have hunted it down and destroyed it to the ground if she hadn't been sure there would be dozens of its copies made and doled out _indiscriminately_ in retribution. Wait, let her rephrase that. If she hadn't just _known_ there _were_ dozens of its copies _already made_ , all giddy for a chance to be doled out indiscriminately _in the name of_ retribution.

Kudou Yukiko got her high from taunting and tormenting her daughter, Shinichi just knew it.

That didn't mean Shinichi didn't try to do everything she could though. Shinichi always did her best to limit down the time she had to wear a skirt. Besides the fact that she never went without shorts under her skirt - it was a blessing Teitan's skirts were relatively long - she also changed right into pants once the school ended. That was the reason why the media featuring the high school detective rarely caught her in her school uniform.

Today however, Shinichi had been in haste leaving the school, plus the whole thing with Honda-kun made Shinichi completely forget about her usual inconvenience. How troublesome. Why did Ran and Sonoko cause all that fuss again? She just didn't get it.

Realizing she was glaring at her uniform, Shinichi looked up, pushed all the irrelevant thoughts aside and answered the police officer noncommittally, "Yeah. I come here right after school." Then she requested what she'd come here for, "Ah, Officer Hitoshi, can I see Division 1? I have some work to do." No, she didn't, not really. But if she hadn't lied, she could never get in.

Hitoshi drew out the appointment sign-in clipboard and started to search for her name in the list. "You have an appointment right, Kudou-san?" He asked.

"Ah no, this is unexpected. That's why I come directly here. I could ask for Inspector Megure's confirmation right now, if you want?" She bluffed right on the spot, half-hoping she wouldn't need to actually do it. The inspector would allow her in anyway, but she'd have to think of some believable excuses without mentioning the One million yen case in this open space. It might draw some undesirable attention.

Unluckily for Shinichi, Hitoshi was a careful and dutiful police officer. He quickly agreed to her pretend suggestion. "Yes, please do. A detective like you would understand I can't forgo protocol without expressed permission, right?" he said, smiling apologetically.

 _Guess it has to come to that,_ Shinichi mentally sighed, pulling out her cell phone.

"Kudou-san! What are you doing here?"

_Or not._

Feeling hopeful, Shinichi turned around to greet the friendly, chubby Detective Chiba. Dressed in his official suit, he reached her side with a few quick steps, smiling at her warmly.

Shinichi replied with a smile of her own, "Hey, Assistant Inspector Chiba, how are you doing?" She was always fond of the kind-hearted, law-abiding assistant inspector. She had worked with him on a few cases and had the chance to enjoy his remarkably good nature.

"I'm good, thanks. How about you? Have some business here?" said he, curious.

"I'm fine thanks. And yes, I wanted to drop by Division 1 for some questions. I was just about to call Inspector Megure." Shinichi showed Chiba the cell phone on her hand.

"Assistant Inspector Chiba, didn't you just leave?" Hitoshi interrupted them.

Chiba grinned sheepishly, "Ah... It seems I forgot my ID and my elevator pass in the office. I need your help to enter the elevator." He scratched the back of his head, lowering his eyes in mortification.

"So it is. No problem, Assistant Inspector," answered the security guard sympathetically before standing up and stepping out from behind his desk.

"And, Officer Hitoshi, can Kudou-san just go in with me? I'll take responsibility for her," Chiba added, sending Shinichi a secret wink. Shinichi grinned back gratefully.

Hitoshi frowned thoughtfully for a moment, then acquiesced. "Okay, Assistant Inspector Chiba, if you say so."

"Thanks, Hitoshi," Shinichi and Chiba said in chorus, exchanging with each other their looks of elation.

* * *

"Now tell me, Kudou-san, what are you really here for?" asked Chiba after the elevator door closed, shutting the two of them away from listening ears.

Caught, Shinichi'd had nothing to do other than chuckle nervously. "A-ha-ha, you noticed?"

"You had had that reluctant look on your face when you were going to call Inspector Megure, you know. That's how I guessed you were here without his request." Chiba smiled knowingly.

"Hmm..." Shinichi hummed contemplatively. She'd thought her expression was quite subtle. Was Chiba always this sharp? "Well, you're right. I just wanted to sneak in to see if there were any new cases." She aimed a disarming smile at him, having decided not to tell him the truth.

"Ah, I see. You want to take over all our jobs, don't you, young detective?" Chiba said, grinning to show he was just joking. Shinichi playfully smirked along with him.

The elevator bells chimed; they had reached their floor. Chiba and Shinichi stepped out, and before they parted ways, Shinichi gave him her thanks. "Thanks again, Assistant Inspector. You're a big help."

Chiba turned his back to her, tossing over his shoulder another smile, "Think nothing of it, Kudou-san. I'm used to rescuing you and your family from the police." Chuckling mirthfully at his secret joke, he went away and soon disappeared around a corner.

Puzzled and just a little bit troubled - what was Chiba talking about? - Shinichi stood there thinking for a moment before making a mental note to look into his unusual statement and behaviors later. At the moment, she didn't have much time. She needed to talk with Inspector Megure and then head to her parents' place right away. She was already running late.

* * *

Division 1 of Criminal Investigation Department, more often than not, handled homicides. The cases they took were usually received through the Communication Division, who would notice them if there were emergency calls from patrols or citizens reporting the occurrence of sudden and violent deaths. Then they would send their detectives along with the autopsy and forensic teams to the crime scene. When the investigation reached a verdict, it would be reported to the court and then the case would be filed and stored in the police database. Depending on the case, it would be disclosed to the public or remain absolutely confidential.

That was usually a closed, select process that civilians and non-professionals were strictly forbidden to get involved in. When a case got tough, however, the police would ask for the assistance of private agencies, and that was how detectives like Kudou Yuusaku and Mouri Kogorou got their jobs. Shinichi's father and Inspector Megure were friends, and the inspector would once in a while ask Yuusaku to help him when his team was at their wits' end. As for the other private detective mentioned, well, let's just say he had priority issues and leave it at that. Shinichi didn't dare give anymore comment, lest Ran destroy another telephone pole right under her nose. Literally.

Scary woman, Ran.

Anyway, since at twelve Shinichi had already showed serious interest in crime investigation, and proved herself capable of facing violence and death, Yuusaku had permitted his daughter to accompany him when he was doing his part-time job, despite the extreme reluctance of Megure and disapproving frowns of other more conventional adults.

Shinichi had learnt from her father for two years before Yuusaku and Yukiko set off to the US on business. Without her father's escort, it was nearly impossible for her to get into crime scenes. The only way she could get involved to study the procedure of crime investigation was being there when the crime occurred, and then sneaking around the police to peek at their collected evidences and forensic reports. She had pretty much perfected her stealth that way. Fortunately, or unfortunately depending on who you were asking, she had had plenty of opportunities to practice - bodies just seemed to fall dead everywhere she went. Shinichi and her parents could only be glad she was already born with nerves of steel and didn't show much need for a therapist.

So little by little, step by step, Shinichi had absorbed the police expertise of solving crimes and started taking control of the limelight. She had to endure suspicion and dismissal at first, and had to be very careful when independently conducting the preliminary investigation before the police arrived. She always told uninvolved bystanders to witness her proper conduct of taking photos and preserving the crime scene; always spoke clearly and confidently and never without back-up or demonstration. Logic and self-assurance had been her only supporters then.

Now that the ball had rolled and her reputation had been built up, it was much easier for her to join a murder investigation and make people listen to her reasoning. It didn't hurt that Shinichi had no qualms whatsoever against throwing her weight around. She milked publicity for all its worth, mainly because it made her job at the crime scene so much less complicated. Admittedly, there was also the reason she secretly loved the attention she gained as a detective, but that was beside the point. She was totally entitled to at least _some_ privilege; she had, after all, worked hard to get to this place.

That would be why no homicide officers said a thing when Shinichi entered their operation lair, breezing around. They must have concluded that she had some business here, since it was hardly news-she came here all the time, for witness statements or case reports. She seldom came without someone's supervision though, but nobody seemed to notice that.

Soon Shinichi found the one she was looking for, Inspector Megure, who was standing at the end of the room talking to his subordinates. She guessed he had almost finished by the time she approached him, since Megure noticed her coming and with a few more sentences, he dismissed the two officers and turned to her.

"Ah, Shinichi-kun. What are you doing here?" He frowned and then gave her a deadpan look. "Don't tell me you sneaked in here without escort again," said he.

Caught for the second time that day, Shinichi again played the part of an abashed, innocent schoolgirl. "A-ha-ha, sorry Inspector Megure. But you know I won't cause any trouble! I just come for a chat, then I'll go right away, I promise!" She plastered a big, charming smile on her face.

Inspector Megure stared at her, not buying it even for a second. Oops, guess she had used that card on him for far too long. Nevertheless, Shinichi knew he would give in. The old man had a soft spot for her, having known her since she was twelve.

True to her prediction, eventually Megure heaved a long sigh and muttered, "Go right away, she said. Right." In a louder voice, he asked, "How can I help you now, miss detective?"

Shinichi beamed, and proceeded to pull him through the rows of work stations, heading for a secluded corner. "Just by answering some small questions, Inspector. I'm just curious about the-"

"Inspector Megure! What should I do about this call?" A officer interrupted Shinichi, stopping them on their path.

"What's about it, Mamiya-kun?" said Megure, coming to his subordinate's side.

"Some children are adamant about seeing a bloody body inside a house. The Communication Division thought they were just fooling around and turned them down, but those children kept calling, so their call was transferred to us," Mamiya reported, handing out the phone's receiver to his boss.

 _"It's true! There was a dead body!"_ A childish voice shouted from Mamiya's receiver.

 _"In the bathroom! We saw it!"_ A second voice loudly cut in.

" _We aren't lying! We swear!"_ Another teary voice cried out.

While Megure was still deciding what to do, Shinichi took the receiver, putting it to her ear and said in a kind yet firm tone, "Hello, I'm Kudou Shinichi, detective. Can you hear me?"

The hysteria on the other end of the phone quieted down. The teary, girlish voice trembled through the earpiece, "Y-y-yes."

Pressing the loudspeaker button for all parties to hear, Shinichi smiled and said, knowing her smile could be heard in her voice and would help calm the little girl down. "It's okay, just take a deep breath and listen to me." She spoke slowly so the girl could follow. "Can you do that?"

There was a sound of sniffing and inhaling, before the child answered, "Y-yes, I-I c-can."

Gently, Shinichi praised her, "Very good. Now, what should I call you and your friends, little girl?"

"A-Ayumi... and... and this is Mitsuhiko-kun..."

"And I'm Genta!" the first voice Shinichi heard broke in.

"And we're detectives too! We're the 1B Detective Boys!" The other boyish voice took over the phone.

"Okay, Detective Ayumi-chan, Detective Mitsuhiko-kun and Detective Genta-kun, where are you studying at?" asked Shinichi solemnly.

"Uhm, we're studying at Teitan Elementary." The girl bewilderingly answered.

Shinichi grinned. "Hey, what a coincidence! I studied there too! We're senpai and kouhai then!"

"Oh, really! That's great!" The three voice exclaimed together in their childlike joy.

"Really. So you three can just call me Shinichi-neechan, alright?"

"Alright! Shinichi-neechan!" The children chorused.

"But, big sister, why is your name Shinichi? It's a boy's name, right?" Mitsuhiko-kun asked confusedly, not knowing he'd just thrown Shinichi a curve ball.

Shinichi froze, halted in the middle of her next words, before hastening to gloss over the innocent question. "A-ah, haha. Neh, tell me, how did you find the body?"

That definitely drew their attention away from the touchy subject. The next five minutes were spent listening to the children's story.

The children had begun the search for a cat, then found it coming out of a house all bloody. They had sneaked through the gate into the house and when looking through the window they discovered a body with its bloody head half sinking in the bath. They had run out and contacted the police right after that. Shinichi noted all this down in shorthand while listening, occasionally stopping their ramblings to clarify a detail, and finally asked them about the timings and the place.

When all her questions had been answered, Shinichi said to the children, "I understand. We will be there with you in," she glanced at her watch, "fifteen minutes. Until then, you three must do as I say. Can you do that?"

"Yes! We can do it!" shouted the little detectives, fiercely determined.

Shinichi nodded in approval, although they couldn't see it. "Until I come, you must stay there around the house. Choose somewhere so you can see anyone that goes into or out of the house." She paused, waiting for the kids to confirm their understanding, before continuing. "One of you should stay somewhere high, if you can find any place like that. A nearby tree or a public mailbox... Is this telephone booth near the house?"

"Uhm, yeah, it's right by the front gate," replied the girl.

"Can you climb onto it?"

There was a brief silence on the children's end before Mitsuhiko exclaimed. "Hey I can! If I climb on Genta-kun's shoulders I can get on it!"

"Why does it have to be you? Why not Ayumi-chan?" complained Genta. Shinichi guessed he was the biggest of three. Maybe of his class, even, if by climbing on his shoulders another first grade could reach the top of a telephone booth.

"How can you make Ayumi-chan climb on anything?" argued the other boy.

Before a fight broke out between them, Shinichi cut in, keeping her voice even and commanding. "That's good. Genta-kun, you help Mitsuhiko-kun climb up there. And all of you keep your eyes on the house. Don't let anyone or anything get past your notice. Can you three do that?"

"Yes, we can!" They answered in unison.

"Don't let any suspicious adults come near you. Run and shout if they try to. Only come back when you hear the police sirens. Clear?"

"Yes, ma'am!"

"Good. We'll be there soon." Shinichi solemnly promised and hung up the phone.

"' _We'_ , Shinichi-kun?" Inspector Megure asked, stared at her with unamused eyes.

Straightening, Shinichi stared back with serious eyes of her own and answered calmly, "These kids told the truth, Inspector Megure. There has been a murder."

"And how do you know it?", asked the inspector, skeptical.

"The kids didn't hesitate to state their names and their school when I asked. They even volunteered their class, class 1B. If this had been a prank, they would've given us an anonymous tip."

Before Megure could say anything, Shinichi continued, clearly and strongly. "Their display of emotion was open and real. So were their reactions. If they had been lying, they would have immediately gotten wary about my personal questions and be on guard. They weren't.

"Their story was told by three at the same time and my random questions were answered by a different child each time, yet all the details were in accordance. The whole story is very likely to be genuine."

Finishing her verbal report, Shinichi went in for the kill. "Inspector Megure, indeed there's still a small chance that they've been practicing thoroughly to fool the police, but is that small chance enough for you to ignore the possibility of a crime and assist the escape of a murderer?" She looked the inspector straight in the eyes, willing his good judgement to listen and react.

The inspector contemplated her words for a moment, and then with his shoulders thrown back and his head held high, he commanded his police force, who since the beginning had been paying attention and patiently waiting, "Team 1, be ready. Mamiya-kun, call our autopsy and forensic teams and let them know their service might be needed. Hit the road right away. We have a mission."

* * *

They didn't find any dead body.

The police had rushed to the given address, where the children were obediently waiting, Mitsuhiko guarding the residence from the top of the phone booth just like Shinichi instructed. They had then entered the house and searched every nook and cranny, but besides a rude, nasty man that had the ability to sleep with the police in his home, it was just an ordinary household, showing no signs at all of bloody violence.

They had considered the likelihood of the body being moved to somewhere else. But the only way to move the body without the three kids noticing was to carry it up the tree, over the back wall of the residence, and walk with it on a narrow forty centimeter walkway. They had tested that and proved the task impossible.

Being left with nothing else to do, Shinichi and the police had to go back, mixed feelings in their hearts. For most officers, irritation and displeasure for being fooled by kids ruled - their mutterings about "wayward brats and soft-hearted women" was a big enough clue. For Inspector Megure, although he didn't say it, Shinichi knew he was feeling disappointed and a little ashamed. Shinichi couldn't say she was feeling the same, even though she had practically been the one leading the police here.

No, she didn't feel disappointed or ashamed. She was sure, absolutely sure that the detective-wannabe kids had told the truth. Children at that age weren't good actors, and when meeting them face-to-face, Shinichi could read their behaviors toward each other and know they were good kids. And the crestfallen, slightly rebellious look on their faces when Megure scolded them suggested they wholeheartedly believed in what they said.

Unless the three children had been high on hallucinogens, which Shinichi had checked and seen no after symptoms of by the way, Shinichi was utterly convinced she had missed something of extreme importance.

Sitting in the police car beside Megure, Shinichi calmly and thoroughly reviewed all the evidence. There were two brothers in the house, together with a corpse or a severely injured victim. The perpetrator had moved the body to somewhere within the house. The younger brother came back home from the front gate yet there was a leaf on his pants that was the same as the leaves in the backyard. The older brother had greeted the police before going upstairs and had seemingly been there for all the time. Their phone-

Phone... Her phone was vibrating and ringing.

Drawn away from her deep thoughts, Shinichi took the phone out and looked at the caller ID. What she saw caused a chill running up and down her spine.

Her mother was calling.

Oh God and Heaven above, she totally forgot! Oh God oh God oh God her mother would _kill_ her!

The phone continued to ring, its cheerful buzzing as welcoming as a banshee's screeches. After seriously calculating the possibility of ignoring the call _and_ getting away with it, Shinichi sighed and answered. What was she thinking? Zilch. Zip. _Zero._

"Hello... Mom?" Shinichi gingerly said into the phone, which she carefully held at a distance lest her mother's irate scream puncture her eardrum.

Yukiko didn't speak loudly though. Instead, her question was sweeter than honey and softer than the fall of a leaf. "Shin-chan dear? Where are you?"

Shinichi started to sweat. "Erm, in a police car headed back to the station?"

Yukiko's voice got even sweeter and softer, if that was possible. "And where are you supposed to be now, little cutie Shin-chan dear?"

 _I'm dead, dead, dead._ "Ermm, with you? Mom, I'm sorry. I wa-"

"Shin-chan dear, the press is asking for a photo of you." Yukiko suddenly changed the topic.

_Oh crap._

"And I just happen to have this super cute picture." Yukiko continued.

_That's it. I'll never walk out of my home again. Welcome, Kudou Shinichi, to the life of a recluse._

"Amazing, isn't it? I thought we'd lost all of the pictures from when you were three."

_We'll call you, Kudou the Hermit. Hopefully Ran would at least visit sometimes._

"Especially this picture when you tried to imitate your father, mustache and all."

_Not Sonoko though. Sonoko would just come to lau- Wait. What?_

"You even nicked his glasses and tie. Shin-chan, did you know- "

"Mustache... Glasses..." Shinichi parroted.

_Oh!_

Realization hit Shinichi. Triumphant, she let the corner of her mouth curl up into her usual smug smirk. She understood everything now.

"Thanks a lot, Mom!" She excitedly fired into the phone and hung up, ignoring the stumped _"What?"_ on the other end.

"What happened, Shinichi-kun?" Inspector Megure asked, bewildered.

"Inspector, I've-!" Shinichi clicked her mouth shut, contemplating again the situation.

Although she understood now how the culprit had re-staged the crime scene, she didn't have any proof. She couldn't ask Megure to go back there, not without anything more substantial than her speculations, right as she believed them to be.

So she answered, "I've just realized I forgot some errands I had to do for my mother." She scratched the back of her head, smiling sheepishly. "Can you stop here for me?"

"Is that alright, Shinichi-kun?" Megure asked, slightly unconvinced.

"Yes, yes, everything is alright." Shinichi quickly nodded her head. "Please stop here," said she to the police driver.

When the car stopped, she jumped out of it, saying, "Thanks for the ride, Inspector, I'll contact you very soon." Not even waiting for an answer, Shinichi ran back to the house where they'd just left behind a mystery unsolved.

* * *

Slowing down to catch her breath, having run all the way to the house and jumped over the gate, Shinichi took the time to observe her surroundings once more. Good, no one seemed to have noticed her. Next what she would do was to open that little bathroom window she had unlocked before the police left, and then sneak-

_What! The window is open!_

She stealthily approached said window, and confirmed that, yes, the window was indeed open. Someone had sneaked into the house this way before her and forgot to close it off. And based on the tiny shoe prints on the wall, Shinichi had a very good idea who that someone was. _Were._ She must be faster now.

After peeking through the window and making sure there was no unpleasant surprise, Shinichi quickly maneuvered herself through the small space. It was more awkward than it should be, since she was wearing a skirt - damn this thing was annoying - but she could quite manage. No new experience there.

With ears on full alert, she crossed the bathroom floor to the door, which was partially open - the product of those children's carelessness again. There was no one in the hall. Wondering where the kids had disappeared to, she stepped out, silently edging toward the stairs, her back against the wall so that she wouldn't be caught off guard by anything.

There was something on the telephone stand that hadn't been there before: a cellphone. _So that's how he did it._ Shinichi smiled tightly. She had figured out all of the younger brother's tricks. Now it was time to find and expose the dead body. Shinichi quickly climbed upstairs and proceeded to check every room she reached first, just in case the body had been moved from its previous position. Besides, she had to find the children before they were found by someone else. She fervently hoped there hadn't been anything bad happening to them.

She was in an empty room, checking its cabinets, when a loud slamming sound made her jump out of her skin.

_BANG!_

The sound hadn't come from the room Shinichi was in though. It was from the adjourning one.

_Oh no, don't tell me..._

Alarmed, Shinichi slipped to the door, peering out from the gap. Tanaka, the younger brother was the one causing the noise. It seemed he had heard something and came to check. He must have thought it was just his imagination though, because he was backing out, closing the door after him.

CRASH! Thud!

The sound of a chair crashing and a dead weight hitting the floor. Oh God, the children were in that room! What had they just done? The murderer again slammed the door open. Ayumi screamed.

Fearful for the kids' safety, Shinichi yanked open the door of her room and ran out, intent on distracting Tanaka for them to escape.

She came just in time. Before the madman could strike the cowering children with his golf club, Shinichi's cold, confident voice boomed out, resonating the room.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you. Killing your own brother and fooling the police already guarantee you ten years in prison."

Tanaka rigidly turned back, disbelief plain on his face. "Kudou... Shinichi?"

Smirking, Shinichi stepped closer to the left of the man, leaving the space of the door open so the children could run through.

"Your trick was already exposed, Tanaka-san." Shinichi pointed at the dead body of the older brother which was sprawled out on the floor - courtesy of the foolish kids, once again. "You had cleaned up the bloody body of your brother and put him here, sitting, watching TV, _sleeping_..."

Gazing at the murderer dead in the eyes, she nonchalantly continued. "And you, yourself, disguised as him, greeted us at the door. Just a simple mustache and glasses and we strangers were fooled. So simple."

Taking another step to the right and pulling the murderer's attention along with her, Shinichi gave him a grim smile. "After provoking us into a mad search in your house, you went upstairs and climbed out of the back window to the tree to get over the back wall, and crept on the narrow walkway to get out. Then you returned with your disguise off, and acting as a reserved, _gentle_ younger brother."

Having come near enough to touch the machines on the small tables, Shinichi pulled out the cell phone she had taken with her from downstairs and carried on her dissection. "You produced the illusion that your brother was still alive by using the answering machine, the VCR and this cell phone. You had recorded that yell on the answering machine before we came, and you just needed to call this wired phone..." Shinichi pointed at the machine on the table. "...To activate it."

Shinichi pressed the redial button on the cellphone, and after a few seconds of silent ringing, the previous yell was heard again.

_"Hey! Shut up! Can't you search a little more quietly!"_

Shinichi gave him another smug smirk. "And the TV turning off was just a trick using the TV timer." She paused before drawling out her final provocation. "Isn't that right, Tanaka Tomofumi, _murderer_?"

As expected, the criminal simply couldn't stand to be laid so utterly bare. He threw away his mask of "gentleness" and turned deranged. Shouting rubbish about his killing motive, he darted toward Shinichi, his golf club high above his head, ready to beat her into a bloody mess like his own brother. This was the best opportunity!

"RUN!" Shinichi shouted to the frozen children, galvanizing them to run for their lives. Her distraction nearly cost her a hit on the head, but she dodged it with just millimeters to spare. There was a crash on the other side, _oh no!_ Ayumi had tripped over her legs! The murderer didn't waste any second. He turned right to Ayumi, his club striking-

_Pang!_

Pain shot Shinichi on the shoulder. She had jumped in to shield Ayumi from the attack. Biting her lips to keep in the flaring agony, Shinichi quickly took Ayumi into her arms and rolled both of them out from the path of another deadly blow. Within a short second, Shinichi spun her body around, her leg sweeping the floor under Tanaka, causing him to fall heavily on his back. Taking advantage of the bought time, Shinichi helped Ayumi stand up and pushed her away.

"Run, Ayumi! Run!" She urged.

As soon as Shinichi turned back to face the fallen man, a whoosh sound whizzed through the place where Shinichi's head should have been if her reflexes were a millisecond slower. Tanaka had regained his footing and resumed his mad attacks, Shinichi his only focus now.

 _Damn it, why's there nothing to kick around here?_ Shinichi barely ducked one more club. _What a psychopath._ Hopefully the children were already out and calling the police.

"I won't let you live!" He screamed, frantically swinging his weapon. "I'll drag you down with me!"

Damn, if her dominant arm had been usable she would have found a way to sidle close to him and chop him on his vulnerable wind-pipe. But at the moment every attempt to move that arm burned and she didn't dare use the weaker arm. One failed attempt and she would be under his non-existent mercy. She ran instead.

Another near-hit brushed by Shinichi's back when she was running away. _God this psychopath is fast!_ Shinichi was starting to fear for her life.

_Pang!_

Another painful blow caught Shinichi at last. Losing her balance, Shinichi crashed into a box in the kitchen. Its occupants spilled out with a clatter. And one of them was... _Ah hah!_

"Sorry young lady! You're gonna dieeeee!" The madman advanced, preparing his last strike.

 _The one who's gonna die is_ you _!_ Right foot kicked back ready for the killing shot, Shinichi mentally told him her goodbye before _sho-o-o-o-t and..._

_Boong!_

G-o-a-l! Perfect aim like always, Shinichi patted herself on the back. The teapot had been kicked right into the lunatic's nose, had shattered his nose to a bloody pulp and knocked him unconscious.

Serve the bastard right. This was just one payback for his _two_ successful hits. Shinichi was so generous already.

Plus now her foot hurt, and it was all his fault. Excuse her but she wasn't in the mood to spare him any sympathy.

* * *

"You should treat that shoulder of yours better, Shinichi-kun," said Inspector Megure, a disapproving frown creasing his forehead. "You abuse it too much."

After Shinichi had made sure the perpetrator was really out cold, she called the Inspector with her own cell phone and convinced him that, yes, what the children said through the phone - both the first and the second time - were right. Yes, there was a dead body in the house, and yes, the murderer had been chasing and attacking them but it was all fine now; he had been neutralized with a teapot.

Inspector Megure had been glad to come to take the murderer away and apologize to the kids. He just hadn't been glad to come and see that Shinichi had already dealt with her injuries.

Shinichi was quick to reassure him. "It's allright, Inspector, really. I get these kinds of injuries all the time, playing sports." She whirled her wounded arm to and fro to emphasize her point, ignoring the twinges of pain firing down to her fingers. "I know how to treat it."

The inspector's frown deepened. "Dislocating your shoulder and then relocating it just by yourself, is that what you call _'knowing how to treat it'_?"

"Absolutely, Inspector Megure." Shinichi grinned cheekily at him. "Otherwise, I'd have to wait for the physicians to come and the pain was too uncomfortable for me."

"You wouldn't have had to wait for anyone, if you had just told me where you went," the police commander scolded.

"I didn't want to put you into any tight spots, Inspector Megure. All I had was speculation. Besides, I had thought I was the only one going back." Shinichi softly added, glancing at the kids who were looking at them from afar, clearly wanting to come closer.

She smiled at them, and beaming, they ran over. She crouched down, putting herself at their level. Ayumi was the first one to speak.

"Big sis... Thank you... and I'm sorry," she whispered, eyes downcast.

"Don't worry about me, I'm fine. However, Ayumi-chan..." Putting a hand on Ayumi's tiny shoulder, Shinichi made the little girl look at her. "If I hadn't arrived in time, you could have been seriously hurt. You know that, right?"

Shinichi had intended to chide them more, but she immediately regretted her words the moment they came out of her mouth. The kids' faces dropped in pitiful misery, and Ayumi had tears in her eyes. Shinichi was having the urge to blabber apologies - she was _horrible_ at comforting people - when Ayumi mumbled something that caught Shinichi completely off guard.

"But... but... sis, we didn't want to disappoint you."

Shinichi was stunned for a few long seconds before the words actually sank in. Then she felt an inexplicable warmth spreading through her body, healing every lingering ache it still had. She smiled, tenderness caressing every corner of her heart.

"Thank you, but no, you didn't disappoint me. I always knew you were telling the truth."

Seeing the children's blush and awestruck eyes, she smiled even wider. "That's why you have to believe in me too. Leave it to me the next time, okay?" said Shinichi, looking at the kids with expectation.

Reluctantly, the wannabe detectives nodded. It seemed like they still had the blood of adventurers in them yet. Shinichi was really in no position to reproach them. She had been just the same at their age.

Patting the kids on their heads, Shinichi herded them to the police car waiting to take them home. When the car rolled away, she followed it with her eyes, having the impression that the childlike, exuberant goodbyes of the Detective Boys would remain with her for a very long time.

* * *

It wasn't until nine thirty that Shinichi was able to leave the Police Headquarter, too busy was she in receiving the police's congratulations and filling in reports. She was utterly exhausted. The second job had been tedious, and the first... Well, Shinichi wouldn't have minded it much if she hadn't already been tired, and please, could people just stop praising her with that nickname? "The Modern Irene" - that wasn't the name for a detective!

It wasn't like Shinichi disliked it or anything. She held deep respect for that name. Irene Adler was the only woman Shinichi's idol admired, the only woman that had outwitted him, and the only woman whose picture he treasured. She was a most extraordinary woman, just as Conan Doyle had reverently portray her, _"In Holmes' eyes, she eclipses and predominates the whole of her sex."_ Being nicknamed after such an individual, Shinichi knew she should have felt flattered and proud; yet the truth was, she felt both unsatisfied and inadequate.

Irene Adler was a talented woman, who had even beaten the great detective at his own game, but she was no Sherlock Holmes. She didn't solve puzzles as her hobby and duty, nor did she understand the excitement and fulfillment of stripping horrendous criminals bare of their deceit. No, Irene had had absolutely no interest or intention of being a successful detective. But Shinichi did. God how she did.

That led to the subsequent sense of inadequacy Shinichi always felt when being compared to the fictional lady. Resolute and independent a woman as Irene was, in the end, she, like every other women, found quiet contentment in love and marriage. Shinichi could never imagine herself the same way. Solving crime was her true passion, her love of life - she was similar to her idol in this aspect. Would it be too presumptuous of her if Shinichi admitted she'd rather people call her the Modern Holmes?

Come to think of it, the nickname Irene Adler should be reserved for Shinichi's mother. Both were famous and well-admired actresses. Both accepted to settle down and have a family. Both were resolute in what they wanted, and in Yukiko's case, scarily so. And hey, when talking about the scariness of her mother, wasn't there something Shinichi should have remembered?

Like a switch being turned, Shinichi's exhaustion disappeared, trading place with alarmed apprehension. Oh no, not again. She felt like hitting her head on the nearest brick wall. She had totally forgot about her parents and their party. Again! She had even hung up on her mother when Yukiko was seething. What could Shinichi do now? She was quite sure she would not last the night.

 _Oh, come on, Shinichi_. She encouraged herself. _You've just taken down a murderer and even got an injure or two. Surely Mom and Dad would understand._ Shinichi steeled herself. Sooner or later she'd have to face the music. Better do it right now.

After sending a silent prayer to her patron god - in the slight chance she actually had one, but that was debatable - Shinichi dialed Yukiko's number. Her mother picked it up after the third ring. Yukiko spoke to the phone, her voice this time no longer poisoned sweet honey.

"Bother to call me at last, don't you?" Her words slightly slurred. She was a little drunk, it seemed.

Shinichi winced. "Sorry, Mom, there was a case and I was preoccupied. Are you still at the party?"

"As if you really cared. Hung up. Turned off your phone. You just don't want to talk to your poor mother, do you?" Yukiko grumbled.

Ah, Shinichi had turned off her phone before she sneaked into Tanaka's house. Her mother had _had_ to call her then. "I'm really sorry. I was really busy. Are you still there?" Shinichi repeated her question, but Yukiko again paid it no mind.

"Busy, busy, you and your father. You're all the same. Sometimes I feel like the only female in this family. No one cares for me anymore!"

Shinichi rolled her eyes. Why was she always surrounded by over-dramatic women? There was no talking with her mother when she was like this. So she asked, "Mom, is Dad there? Can I talk to him?"

Wrong move. Her question just prompted Yukiko into another rant. "That insufferable good-for-nothing? I told him to go home. Coming here like he owned the place, flirting with everything that walked on two legs. Does he or does he not have a gentle, loving, _beautiful_ wife?" Yukiko steamed.

Feeling slightly troubled, Shinichi asked, "What? He's gone home without you? When and how will you go home then?"

"I'll be home whenever I want. My _very_ _good_ friend is willing to bring me back. Let's see how _that man_ will react seeing me in another man's arms." Yukiko huffed into the phone and abruptly hung up.

"Oi, oi, oi." Muttered Shinichi, giving her phone an exasperated look. Could this day get any worse? Sighing, she slowly made her way home, longing for the warm softness of her bed. She would have to wake up early to do the homework, but for now, a good, deep sleep was all she wanted.

It was nearly ten o'clock when she stopped before her house gate. Inside the dark yard, her house loomed as a mammoth monster out of gothic novels. There were no lights on. Her father should have been home now, right? Shinichi didn't think he would go to sleep without waiting for his now unhappy wife. Or was he not home yet?

Glancing around, observing her surroundings as an unconscious habit, she just started to come near the gate when her eyes dropped to the ground.

Out of the way, there was half-smoked cigarette lying on the ground. Other than the burnt head, it was unmarked.

Sweeping her eyes over her house again, she caught this time a glint behind the upper front window.

Dread surged through the female detective, her ominous feeling of the day coming alive after its temporary rest, its bells tolling.

There was something really, really, _really_ wrong in her home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *The ranking of Japanese police: Officer is for the most junior rank, rank 9 (junsa). Assistant Police Inspector is higher, rank 7 (keiji). Police Inspector, like Megure, is rank 6 (keibu). You can find more information on the wiki page of detectiveconanworld(dot)com. Oh how I love that page.
> 
> **Senpai and Kouhai: They might be translated into Senior and Junior, respectively, but I don't think I should. These are, according to Wikipedia, "an essential element of Japanese seniority-based status relationships." The relationship between a senpai and a kouhai is more like that between a mentor and a protégé. This is why the kids were so excited to hear those words from Shinichi. But that was true, after all. :D
> 
> *** The Moving corpse case above belongs to Gosho Aoyama. I took it from Detective Conan chapters 56-58. Prepare for a lot of rip-offs like this in the future.


	4. Death in a fire

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was betaed by the wonderful Sailorstar165.
> 
> Warnings for bad language. Besides that, enjoy!

 

Controlling her bubbling panic in an unforgiving mental fist, Shinichi forced herself not to give away any reactions. She fought her body's inclination to just _stone freeze_ in the conflicting state of _fight or flight_ , and instead, fluidly crouched down to pick up the cigarette and pocket it as if she was just retrieving a trivial something she recently dropped, then headed straight toward Agasa's house with no sudden change in her speed and movement. To an outsider's eyes, it just seemed that she had decided to pay her neighbor a visit before coming home. There was not a hint that she was actually detouring from an ambush in her own house.

Desperately hoping she wasn't stepping into another ambush, Shinichi pushed open the front door of her neighbor's well-lit house, ready to duck and run at the slightest sign of danger. There was, however, no one in the living room. No sign at all of her crazy but beloved scientist.

Dread swelled up in her heart again, but Shinichi refused to imagine the worst. No. Not until it appeared in front of her eyes. Shinichi called out, with her best ability keeping her voice from wavering:

"Professor Agasa?"

There was no answer. Shinichi tried again:

"Professor? Are you home?"

 _He could be asleep,_ Shinichi silently told herself. _He has a bad habit of falling asleep where he's working._ Steeling herself, Shinichi walked toward the basement, where Agasa liked to tinker with all his mad inventions. She picked up the vase on the table she passed by—a gift for Agasa from her mother, in order to make his house less bare but having the opposite effect, because Agasa didn't even care to put flowers in it, nor did he care to put the vacant vase away. It was a useless thing, but Shinichi hoped above all hopes that she wouldn't have to destroy it in any way.

Shinichi silently stepped down the curving stairs leading to the basement. The surrounding silence was so deafening in Shinichi's ear that she almost had a heart attack when a _BANG!_ exploded from the room below, and a familiar voice cried out in pain and then in disappointment.

"Ow ow ow! Damn, ow, damn, I thought it'd work this time! Oww..."

Shinichi had never been that ecstatic to witness another booming failure of her crazy scientist. She burst down the stairs, heart singing with relief.

"Professor! Thank God Professor, you're alright!" Shinichi exclaimed.

"Shinichi?" Agasa said from his sprawling position on the floor. The explosion had obviously knocked him out of his chair. The old man was lucky to remember his protective mask, or the damage would be much worse. "When did you come in? I didn't hear you." He muttered, his arms floundering around, trying to get up. Shinichi quickly came to help him.

"Yes, yes, thank you, Shinichi," Agasa said when he was on his feet, his legs unsteady. Shinichi swiftly righted up the knocked over chair, guided him to sit down and then maybe with a bit more force than needed, helped him out of his protective mask.

"Yes, thank you, now where are my glasses—" Before Agasa finished speaking, his glasses were promptly put on his nose, causing him another moment of disorientation. "Oi, slower down a bit, will you? What's the—"

"Professor, keep your voice down!" Shinichi hissed, effectively drawing the scientist's attention to her.

"What...? What is it, Shinichi?" Agasa whispered unsurely, utterly bewildered.

"Tell me, Professor, have you seen anyone suspicious around our houses today?" Shinichi asked, the hands on Agasa's shoulders gripping tightly, almost painfully.

"Suspicious?" Agasa repeated, his expression more bewildered. "No, I've been in here all day. I've been trying to get this—"

Tearing herself away from Agasa, Shinichi started pacing. This alarmed Agasa greatly, since he rarely ever saw Shinichi acting this ...frantically. What had happened!? "Shinichi, what's wrong!?" He asked, Shinichi's sudden anxiety transferred to him.

Shinichi paused to look at him, hesitated, then whispered like she was afraid of being overheard, "Professor, there is ... are ...people in my house. And they're keeping Dad." Her face was turning white, her pupils widening, as if her terror was breaking out as she spoke.

Agasa, on the other hand, couldn't believe in his ears. "What are you saying, Shinichi?" He whispered back, confusion and uncertain fear making his voice falter.

There was a flash of something in Shinichi's eyes before she closed them, took in a deep breath, and when she opened her blue orbs of eyes, the usual icy control was back again. There was but a tiny sign of the panic she was definitely suppressing. Yes, this was Shinichi Kudou the Great Detective alright. She'd realized her anxiety was affecting Agasa, so she pulled on her iron rein and held her emotions back. Agasa got a pang in his heart when he realized this, once again felt sorry for his little girl who'd always thought she should be bearing everyone's burden on her shoulders. She'd been this way since she was a child, and the detective job didn't help the matter.

Still keeping a low volume, Shinichi started to elaborate on her previous words. "I intended to just come home, but I found this before the gate." She took out something from her pocket and showed it to Agasa. A cigarette. A half-smoked one, but just a normal, unmarked cigarette. There was nothing remarkable about it.

Agasa furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. "A cigarette? Shinichi, but it's just—"

"It's not a normal cigarette, Professor." Shinichi interrupted him. "Think. What do you do with a cigarette you don't want to smoke anymore?"

"Uhmm. Shinichi, I don't smoke cigarettes..." Agasa started, but quickly backtracked when Shinichi gave him a _look_. "Err... I'll throw it away?" Agasa ventured.

"And before that?"

"..Erm..."

"You'll throw it away with its head lit and everything?" Shinichi pushed.

"Of course not! It'd cause a fire! I'll put it out first." Agasa exclaimed.

"And how will you do that?" Shinichi asked, cocking an eyebrow as if wanting to say, _figure it out already._

And Agasa did. "Oh...Of course! I'll crush it down the ashtray, and if there's no astray, I'll throw it down and stamp on it!" Agasa hit his fist into his open hand in a universal gesture saying _So that's it!_ "Which will leave a mark! But this cigarette has none!"

Shinichi nodded, satisfied with her student of deduction. "Exactly. That means someone has deliberately put it out this way. Without leaving any marks. And that someone is my father."

"Yuusaku-kun?"

"This is his smoking brand. And he has a trick of putting his cigarette out with his tongue."

"His... what!?"

"There's still saliva here, see?" Shinichi showed the cigarette head to Agasa again. "He left this for me as a warning. It must've happened shortly before I came." Shinichi concluded with a grim face.

Agasa paled. "Thank God for your perceptive eyes, Shinichi. If you walked into that house..." He trailed off.

Shinichi didn't answer him right away though. She looked down at the cigarette, contemplating something for a while. Then she put the cigarette away, looked into his eyes and said, "I am."

For a first few seconds, Agasa didn't understand what Shinichi meant. Then he did, and he wished he had understood everything wrong.

"No! Absolutely not!" Agasa shouted, then he remembered himself and continued in a furious whisper, "You're not going there! You're going to call the police, and wait for them to come and take care of this. It's too dangerous, Shinichi!"

Shinichi stared at him with defiant eyes and said, "No, Professor. _You_ are going to call them for me. Call my mother too, and tell her to stay as away as far as possible. But _I'm_ going."

Before Agasa could knock into her pretty stubborn head how plainly _stupid_ her words are, Shinichi cut in first. "There's no other way. They are still in there, so they must be waiting for me or Mom. Or both. There's a chance that Dad's still alive." Agasa could almost recognize something in her eyes breaking at the words, but it disappeared quickly. "But he won't be the second they noticed we've called the police."

"Then you tell the police to break in the house _quietly_. They can do that. They _are trained_ to deal with these situations!" Agasa rationalized, trying to wake her up from this lunacy.

"No they can't. Only I and Mom know exactly the inner design of our house to break in quietly. And only I can walk around that house in the pitch dark," Shinichi said. "Besides..." Shinichi hesitated, then shook her head, and continued. "Professor, I'll go by myself. I won't risk my father for anything, or anyone."

Agasa felt that old same pang surface. This little girl, always, always wanted to do everything alone. Always always thought she _could_ do everything alone. _What have we done to you, Shinichi? What have we done to make you this way?_

"You won't risk him, but how about you?" Agasa asked, in his last attempt of keeping Shinichi safe.

"Me, Professor?" Shinichi smiled tightly, and Agasa knew that _this was it._ She had decided, and nothing could be done about it _._ "I've got a plan."

* * *

Climbing walls and trees and windows to get into one's own house was no easy task, ever, especially when those walls and trees and windows were all out of your reach and you didn't have any ladders, but Shinichi managed it. She knew the way, not only because this was her house, but also because she had quite a lot of practice—frequently as she did to sneak away from her mother's and sometimes, Ran's ire. Now, why Shinichi had to do that was everyone's guess, but the bottom line was, Shinichi was able to climb all the way up to her bedroom on the second floor like a true-to-God monkey.

Her arms and legs and body were scratched and cut all over though—it was too dark to avoid the thorns and barbs sticking out on her way up—not to mention her previously dislocated shoulder was burning hotly with protest, but Shinichi bared her teeth and held on. It would have been even more difficult without Agasa's newest invention, the Elasticity Handbag Strap (There was actually an evening bag together with it, which Agasa deemed "very suitable for your ball gowns, Shinichi", but Shinichi had blithely unhooked the ghastly thing from the strap and thrown it into the nearest wastebasket. She had no regret), which she used to support her weight when she tried to break into her own bedroom window. It took a palm-sweating, heart-pounding while, but she succeeded at last. She was lucky that no one was guarding her bedroom, or her plan would be over.

Slipping from the window onto her bed, Shinichi in a moment was paralyzed by the unknown pitch black surrounding her, all of her senses screaming at her to get out of here. She refused to listen. Instead, Shinichi composed herself, reminding herself that she knew her house better than anyone, and if there was anyone who could navigate around here easily with blinded eyes, it would be her. She knew exactly how many paces to stride until she hit the desk, the bathroom, the door. She knew exactly how many stairs to step down before she touched the first floor. She knew exactly where the corners, the furniture, the vases, the telephones and various other ornaments were situated. This was her home ground, her home field. In this darkness, she was the one with all the advantages. Everything would be all right.

Yes, everything would be all right.

After tightening the muffling cloths wrapped around her sneakers, checking every assisting device she brought along, and getting as ready as she could ever be, Shinichi cautiously approached the door, suddenly finding it absurdly hilarious that this was already the third time in one night she had to creep about a house. God, must this day be so long?

The hallway behind her bedroom door was in the same pitch dark. But Shinichi knew there was someone standing in the middle of the hall, looking out the front window for Shinichi or her mother's arrival. That person must have caused the glint that Shinichi'd seen. They would be Shinichi's first target. She would then break down the others one after another, or in the very least, keep them all distracted from her (alive, _alive_ ) father with all the ruckus she would cause until the police came, surrounded the house and forced them to submit.

That was the rough plan. And as every rough plan often was, it was not meant to be.

As Shinichi crept along the wall, carefully staying away from the pale light cast from the large windows, a pungent rotten-egg smell made itself known. A very familiar rotten-egg smell.

_Gas?! No, don't tell me... God, they're going to destroy my house!_

Like lightning, information, scenarios, logical deductions and plans of action raced through Shinichi's mind, rapidly created, discarded and reconstructed. The first floor of her house must be full of gas already, just one trigger and everything would be blown up. The explosive blast would damage all the houses in the parameter together with their inhabitants, and at this time of the day, the casualties would be... No that was _not_ acceptable!

Urgently, Shinichi whispered into her hand, "Evacuate everyone immediately. Cut off the gas supplies. They want to blow up the house!"

Venturing into the danger alone, Shinichi needed something to communicate with the outside and gave instructions when the situation called. The Professor, unfortunately, didn't have on hand any mini cell phones that Shinichi could just clip on her ear—he'd planned to, but was too busy inventing other more "exciting" gadgets (such as a watch that could shoot out tranquilizers, or a belt that could readily dispense rubber balls, but those hadn't been completed yet, what a shame), so Shinichi had to make do with a more conventional, but readily available, spy bug. However, that would mean only Agasa (and by proxy, the police) could hear Shinichi, and not the other way around. Shinichi would be kept in the dark about the rescue's progression outside. She'd have to trust the police to do as she had instructed.

Shinichi clenched her jaws. She needed even more time, and that was not going to be easy. The moment her neighbors were alerted, the criminals would know they were discovered. They would take advantage of the commotion to slip away, and waste no time to activate the ignition. Shinichi had to quickly ( _right away!_ ) come up with a plan to both rescue her father (alive, _alive!_ ), _and_ disrupt the explosion. This was her home, damn it, and _nobody_ was going to destroy it!

With adrenalin thrumming through her veins, Shinichi slunk all the way to the front window. She surreptitiously looked around the corner, and confirmed for herself that there was indeed someone there by the window, watching the main entrance. A woman with short haircut, wearing night vision goggles and a black body suit. They had come prepared to operate in the dark. Shinichi had her work cut out for her.

"No, Gin, the brat hasn't come back yet. Nor has the woman. Don't know what's taking them so long," the woman said into her cell phone earpiece, her voice rough and annoyed.

_Gin, huh?_

"I'm bored already. The job wasn't supposed to be this tedious."

_Hmm, what's that supposed to mean?_

"Stop bitching?! I'm going to _bitch_ as I'm—" The woman was too caught up in the moment that when she heard a knocking sound, she instinctively turned her head around "—damn well ple—" and got a full spray of ether in the face. "Oh...," she sighed softly before she dropped down, into Shinichi's waiting arm and was quickly lowered down to the floor.

" _Chianti?" Gin_ 's voice spoke through the earpiece, which Shinichi hastily took away from Chianti's head and put on her own ear.

" _Chianti?"_ Gin's voice turned suspicious.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm yawning, okay? I said I'm tired." Shinichi imitated Chianti's voice by using Agasa's ingenious Voice-changing Hair Bow. Really, this was the most wondrous thing ever invented. If only the professor hadn't made it into a girly hair bow... Where on Earth would Shinichi put that? In her hair? Perish the thought.

"Vodka, you go up there with her." Gin ordered someone on the other side.

 _Crap_. Shinichi thought fast. "What? I'm not sleeping on the job! Don't you dare imply—"

"Vodka can do your job. You come down here and have your _fun_ with _me._ " Gin purred into Shinichi's ear, his menace, dark amusement and vicious sadism manifested in just a few words. Shinichi unwillingly shivered. She believed she had a good idea as to who this was.

Fighting against the resurfacing memories of killers' eyes and crows' piercing shrieks, Shinichi scrambled for concentration, "Oh? Can we have fun with _him_ too?"

The answer made her blood run cold. "I didn't know you're into necrophilism, Chianti."

Everything stopped. Her mind stopped thinking. Her lungs stopped breathing. Her hands stopped moving, confused about what they were supposed to do. Only her heart could comprehend the cruel joke, and it started to roar defiantly in her ears, her head. Each and every time it beat, its throbbing drew blood away from her middle, and squeezed, and squeezed, and squeezed her hard until blood hot tears spurted through her eyes and her world tilted away because her Dad was dead, dead, _dead_.

_No, no, no, no, NO!_

Ripping the earpiece away, Shinichi took in a deep breath, and breathed out, and took it in again, and breathed out, and did it all over again. She would keep calm. She could not afford to lose it now, not when so much was depending on her power to push through. There was always time for grieving and crying later, whenshe had stopped them ( _hurt them hurt them_ ), put them behind bars, and confirmed her father's death for herself. Because she refused, she refused to believe that that was the truth until she saw his dead body with her own eyes.

Shinichi didn't bother to put the earpiece back on—now Gin would have known there was something amiss, and she wouldn't waste more time pretending to play his sick games. Shinichi ripped away Chianti's goggles and put it around her head. The night vision goggles cast everything around Shinichi in a blood red shade (and wasn't it fitting? She _was_ seeing red), but the shape of things had become clear. Checking Chianti's body, she found a short tranquilizer gun and confiscated it too. She already had her own ether spray bottle, but this was a lot more convenient. And with the way this was going, she needed all the advantages she could get.

Then on a belated thought, she tore Chianti's glove from her fingers and took her prints.

She dragged Chianti around the corner, hidden out of the immediate sight of whoever was coming up the stairs. Her heart was pounding so loudly in her chest that Shinichi could almost mistake its sounds for the sounds of boots thunking up the wooden steps. She hoped the bastards wouldn't be hearing her pounding heart too, because they would think she was afraid, and no, she was not afraid. She was full of boiling adrenalin, ready at any moment to _bash_ their heads in, teach them what pain was like, and make them _rue_ the day they decided to attack her family!

Hiding around the corner, Shinichi waited, and waited. But two minutes of suspense had agonizingly crawled by, her body had been wound up and strung out, and still no one came. There were no footsteps of Vodka, no sound at all. _What had happened?_

Gun held tightly in her hands, safety off, Shinichi mentally counted to three before making a sudden turn around the corner, gun swiftly pointed in the stairs' direction, ready to fire. But all that greeted her was darkness and empty silence.

 _They don't intend to come here and catch me?_ Right after Shinichi asked herself the question, she wanted to curse her stupidity. Of course they wouldn't! The staircase would give her too much of an advantage. They weren't stupid enough to risk that. So, what would they do instead?

They'd just leave Shinichi waiting.

Alarming comprehension struck the female detective like electricity, giving her a surge of cold sweats. They knew Shinichi's presence here meant the police were coming, and it'd be much easier for them to just slip away right now and trigger the explosion from afar. So much easier. Shinichi would be just like a small bird, feet caught in her own nest, unable to fly.

Hurriedly, Shinichi moved to the staircase. She had to catch them before they ran away! But then a terrible feeling held her back. What was it?

 _No, no, don't be hasty_ , she told herself. Wasn't that exactly what they'd want her to think? To grow impatient and jump down the stair, right into their awaiting trap? A chill swept over her. _God, I did almost jump right to it._

But she could not stay here either. She could not walk down the stairs, nor could she wait until the house blew up. She needed to move. Well, that was simple. She hadn't used any staircase to come up here.

So Shinichi quickly walked back to her bedroom, climbed out of the window, and after checking the ground, used the Elasticity Handbag Strap to glide herself down. It took very little time and effort this time. She'd have use this trick again, for nothing but to savor the feeling better.

Her feet softly touched the earth, Shinichi pushed the button to shorten the Strap and left it hanging. She wouldn't need it again tonight. Now she would have to consider other ways to get back in the house. The main door, the back door or one of the windows?

The windows choice was out first. The criminals would have sealed all of them to keep the gas in. The main door would be a good way for her to attack, since they must be waiting for her to come down the stair, so their backs would be exposed. However, the back door would lead her to the kitchen.

She crouched down, staying below the windows and started to get toward the back door.

There was no one in the kitchen, which was expected because this was where the stench of gas was the strongest. The door connecting the kitchen and the main hall where they were definitely waiting for her was open though, so she must be very careful not to be caught too soon.

She sneaked into the kitchen, which had become a gigantic time bomb. _A time bomb that would be defused right away_ , Shinichi promised to herself. Quietly but promptly, Shinichi started to open the windows available in the room. That would take away some gas. It wouldn't be as fast as Shinichi desperately wished it to though, because the winds that night were mild. Still, everything counted.

She'd just opened the third windows when she heard it—the sound of people whispering and running. No, not from inside, from outside. The police had come and innocents were being evacuated. Good, that would ease Shinichi's mind a little. Now, just a little bit more time. She'd need to buy just a little bit more time and the police would come help her. The criminals would have to go through the back door to escape. They wouldn't go through the front yard—it was too large and too exposed. So Shinichi'd be waiting here, and when they moved to flee, she would stop them.

And that was one of the decisions that would change everything.

She could have come outside to meet the police, and together worked out a careful plan instead of trying to confront the criminals alone. But she did not. Shinichi's choice to act on her own would change not only her life, but also others'—people who had loved her or would love her, and people who hated and feared her—many would be significantly affected.

For better or worse, who could say? Some would say it was clearly for worse, because due to this—rash, foolish—decision, Kudou Shinichi, the Modern Irene, Great Detective of the East, was dead. Yet, what is death but the chance to be reborn, to start anew? Death is Change, and Change is Death. We are all dying and being reborn a little everyday without most of us truly noticing.

Oh yes, there would be times, in the middle of the nights, when our female detective woke up with a gasp, and thought about how she could have done things differently, how she could have handled things better, but those would not be about this night. Indeed she would replay this horrible night and its painful subsequent events again and again in her head, examining them from every possible angle and extracting every single piece of information they offered, but regret? That she would never do.

True to Shinichi's prediction, just a few minutes later she could hear the soft footsteps coming her way from the main hall. She was already ready.

With a powerful kick from the dark, Yukiko's beloved teapot sailed by Gin and smashed the other man (Vodka?) right in the face. Not even sparing a look to check the outcome of her kick, Shinichi lunged to the side, rolled out of the way of the tranquilizer shot she knew was coming. She dodged the first, and the second whistled past her right ear before she was safely behind the kitchen counter. There she was able to lift her own gun and fire in Gin's direction twice. They missed, but forced him to take cover behind the door frame.

Vodka was out cold. That left Gin and Shinichi, one behind the wall, one behind the counter, and their tranquilizer guns with limited shots. They were at an impasse.

Shinichi was the first one to break the silence. "The police are surrounding this house. You won't escape, _Gin_."

"Kudou Shinichi. It's you who have been causing all the trouble, hmm? I'm impressed." Gin's drawl was condescending, as if to show all Shinichi had done was merely inconvenience him. He was trying to rile her up.

"I remember you." Brushing aside his words, Shinichi said instead. She'd give as good as she'd get. "Both of you. At the amusement park. You were not there for _fun_ , were you? You were there for your shady business. Did you come on time?" Shinichi mocked.

"You're mistaken us with someone else, girl." Gin coolly contradicted her. He'd known she was goading him for a recorded confession. Damn. Worth a try though.

"Tell me," she demanded, "What are you doing all this for? Revenge for a captured accomplice?"

Gin _laughed_ , the sound sending a shiver down her spine. What was it about this bloody bastard that unnerved her so much? At last, he answered, "No, we'd never do that." _What does that mean?_ He paused a little more before continuing, "Do you want to hear the truth, detective girl?"

What was he playing at? Shinichi wasn't sure, so she didn't answer.

" _Tell me_ ," Gin threw Shinichi's own words back at her, mocking. "Where's your _mommy_ , girl?"

 _He's taunting me again._ "Staying far away from pyromanic psychopaths, I presume." Back was Shinichi's iciness. If Gin thought he could convince Shinichi that her Mom was in danger, he was dead wrong. Shinichi knew her mother was safe.

But Gin's next words confused Shinichi. "Staying far away from her own devious schemes, more like."

Hearing the detective say nothing, Gin sinisterly continued, "It's difficult to grasp the truth, isn't it? That one's own mother was scheming to kill their family, planning to blow up their house."

"CLANG!"

Shinichi had grabbed one plate from the sink and thrown it across the counter, shattering it on the wall near Gin's head. Her whisper was loud in the ensuing silence. "You can stop wasting your breath. Don't think I'd ever believe your _poisonous lies_." She spat out the last two words.

"Then you tell me, detective, since you're so good at collecting evidence," Gin hissed maliciously, "why did she not come home with your father? Why did she insist he came home first? Think. How could we break into your house so easily? How could we even know when to break in?"

It was Shinichi's turn to chuckle darkly. "Since I'm very good at my job, criminal, I'll tell you this. They're just some pitiful _circumstantial_ evidence. You've got to do better than that to fool me."

"Then how about this _direct_ evidence instead?" The question made Shinichi jump, because it wasn't spoken from Gin's direction, but right by her side. A woman behind an open window on Shinichi's right took aim with her gun and fired.

 _Crap! They have a fourth!_ Shinichi had instinctively hurled her body aside; she avoided the shot, but crashed herself painfully into the cabinets. From the corner of her eyes, she saw Gin fling himself over the kitchen counter. Panic and desperation rose up to cloud up her mind. She was well and truly trapped.

The blow he dealt to her head didn't knock her out cold, but it disoriented her badly. Her thoughts turned sluggish. Her eyes were swarmed over with black dots. It'd seem all her senses could do was focus on the throbbing part of her head, which were kinda stupid of them, because that was where it _hurt_. She could barely hear what her attackers said, and what little her ears heard, her mind could not comprehend.

"...finish ...quickly … no time …"

"Chianti... blow it up"

Someone put something into her mouth, and tipped in water so she would swallow. After a few seconds, she felt her stomach was getting hotter and hotter, as if she'd swallow acid. Then her whole body started to _sizzle_ and all she could feel was blazing, splitting, _pure agony_. They were burning her _alive!_ In terror, she screamed. And screamed, and screamed.

Then someone hauled her up. They half-carried, half-dragged her. They whispered into her burning ear, "...on ...Shin... Come..."

She tried to see their face, but her body didn't listen to her anymore. It convulsed wildly like the frogs in those electricity experiments. She fell down, but her face didn't touch the floor. Good that would have hurt. More. Maybe.

The person dragged her more forcibly, then she was lifted from the ground. _Hey, don't you know that hurts?_ She wanted to say, but what came out of her mouth was, "Uhh-ahhh..." Darkness was snatching the last of her consciousness.

The last thing she was aware of was the distant rumbling of ...something. Her vision blacked out.

* * *

"Well. That was a mess."

Kir, who was known as Mizunashi Rena by many, and Hondou Hidemi by an extremely selected few, felt like being the first to comment on the mission. Their team had just executed an exciting and narrow getaway escapade, the magnitude of which was the likes most people could only watch on block-busting movies—gun-blazing, bullet-flying, car-chasing, grenade-throwing, completed with an old good almighty explosion. And they had accomplished the goals of their mission too, having killed Kudou Yuusaku and Kudou Shinichi, plus blowing up their house, and then successfully escaping from the police.

Except they had not planned it this way. Not at all.

Their plan had been to break in the Kudou's house, wait for the three Kudou members to go back, then subdue them and administer the poison, APTX. All would be carried out in silence and secret. It wouldn't be until they ignited the gas-filled house—cleverly disguised the explosion as a gas leak incident—and got away that anyone would know about it.

The plan had not involved running from the police, not at all.

The plan had not involved a meddling, troublesome, annoying, brilliant detective girl, either.

The most difficult and dangerous target was supposed to be Kudou Yuusaku. The man had an uncanny ability to figure out the Organization's ploys, and had always been quick to hinder them. That was why he must be eliminated.

After much careful planning and effort, the Organization at last managed to catch the man off guard, and neutralize him. The challenging part was supposed to be over. They didn't take into account the rumored-to-be-budding high school detective, Kudou Shinichi—wannabe detectives like her were all over Japan, propagating like mushrooms after the rain. No, they had just focused their attention on the Kudou couple, who were almost always overseas. Those two were the main targets.

And that was the Organization's biggest mistake.

Even Gin, their team mastermind, had underestimated the girl. After figuring out the Kudou girl was impersonating Chianti (How had she done _that_ anyway? How had she even known there was something wrong?), Gin had counted on the unbalanced mentality of the girl and thought she would just jump down into their springing trap. The girl had been on the verge of breaking down after all—they'd heard her frantic breathing through the earpiece—and people in that emotional state always acted irrationally. But the Kudou girl hadn't. She had actually been one step ahead of them, cutting off their retreat. She had also—because it clearly was her—informed the police where to arrange their barricade, preventing the arsonists from escaping too easily.

What a girl.

 _She had even managed to throw Gin a parting gift too_ , Kir discreetly flicked her eyes toward Gin's wounded arm, his blood still sluggishly seeping through the hastily bound dressing. He had to shoot his own arm so the pain can keep him awake from the last tranquilizer shot she gave him before going unconscious. Oh, poetic justice.

Hmm, Hidemi had to control herself right now, lest she reveal her jubilation and irreversibly ruin her cover. It was difficult though. She hadn't expected the night would turn out like this, but this truly was a welcomed surprise.

She had been appointed to this mission, and she had anticipated this mission to end just like the Organization had planned. Which meant, at the end of the night, Kir was going to have the blood of three more people on her hands, and the heavy duty of concealing Hidemi's guilt, anger and self-disgust. But that didn't happen, and she didn't have to.

By some miracle Kir couldn't conceive, the drugs Gin forced on the two Kudou hadn't worked. At least, hadn't worked in the case of Kudou Yuusaku. Gin and Vodka had been too distracted with searching the enormous library to check on the poisoned man, but Kir had seen it. A soft, deep inhalation before the man went still. He was alive, just feigning death. Then Kudou Shinichi arrived and no one paid attention to the novelist anymore. Kir was sure he'd find a way to get his living daughter out of the explosion before it was too late. Knowing Kudou Yuusaku's ingenuity, Kir had a firm belief that they were alright.

In the four years after her father's death, rarely could she ever enjoy such confidence. As a spy, living daily in the suffocating air that too often bred perils and distrust, Kir had to be wary of everything—the little information she'd got, her ready-to-backstab accomplices, _Anotaka_ 's orders, sometimes even the Headquarter's orders, and sadly more frequent than most, she doubted herself.

Kir always had to wonder. Was that really the best she could do? Could she have done a little more? Saved a little more? Because the way she was going, it seemed she'd accomplished almost nothing. People had died on her watch, under her hands, in the ploys she'd taken part in, and all she'd done was pretend she didn't care, and wait.

Right before he shot himself in front of her, her father had said, "Don't give up, Hidemi! An ally will show up if you continue waiting!" He had said that with absolute conviction, and his conviction together with his mission entrustment had been the only things that kept her going for so long. She had started to doubt that ally would ever show up, but now...

She could see that day coming.

"You're pensive, Kir. Anything to share with us?" Gin's chilly voice cut through her thoughts, mercilessly dragged her good mood back to the cold hard present.

The answer came off her tongue easily though—she had long practice. "I'm just wondering what _Anokata_ would say. He had to send help to bail us out, after all. I don't think he'd be pleased."

And wasn't that a massive understatement? The Organization's Boss would be furious. He had to arrange small bombing sites all over Tokyo to overload the police and compel them to divide their forces. Without his fast actions, it would've been impossible for them to get away unscathed. Well, unscathed aside from what damage Kudou Shinichi had inflicted on them, of course.

"It's all the bitch's fault. Fuckin' bitch." Vodka groused, one hand gingerly touched his broken nose, which Korn had not-so-nicely popped back into place. "If she were still alive I'd fuckin' beat her up. I'd smash her fuckin' face to the ground so hard not even her mother could recognize her."

Chianti gritted her teeth and rammed her fist to the car door. "Not if I got to her first, the _cunt_. I'd rip off her little head and fucking shoot—"

Yes, not to mention the ego bruising.

Kir interrupted Chianti's tirade, ignoring her resentful glare, "Talking about her mother, Kudou Yukiko has escaped unscathed. What now?"

"She'll try to disappear." Gin answered. "She knows we're hunting her now. She won't risk going to the police for statements. We can easily get her like that."

"Because then her movements will be monitored. The police had probably heard your false accusations," said Kir.

Gin smirked, smugly satisfied with himself. "Exactly."

"Where will she go?" asked Vodka, his bloodthirsty eagerness plain for all to see.

"Her husband and daughter are dead. She'll run to the FBI for help. They'll definitely add her into their Witness Protection Program and arrange a way to bring her overseas. We'll just have to find it out and cut it off," Gin promised, his shark-like smile stretching, his eyes reflecting the others' gleaming viciousness.

 _Sorry to burst your bubble, Gin. But I have a feeling it wouldn't be that easy._ Kir hid a smirk while her thought went back to the young detective, whose sheer brilliance had brought hope back to her again.

_Thank you, Kudou Shinichi. And good luck.  
_

_.  
_

_._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is specially written for Sailorstar165, my wonderful beta, and Ma-chan, my wonderful pen pal, to whom I want to offer my apology, my sincere gratitude and affection.
> 
> Thanks for reading, and please review!


	5. Lost and found

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ran heard the news.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: Don’t be too happy. I mean, besides the fact that this is a not happy chapter, it might give you more questions than answers. And also there is a cliff-hanger, kinda? Sorry about that. XD
> 
> Also, I didn't think this needed to be a warning but apparently it does. This chapter is Ran-centric.
> 
> And, uhm, I’m also sorry for, you know, keeping you wait. Like, since forever. (Is that four years?) My bad. XD Well, here we go.

It was late, and Ran couldn’t sleep. She had been tossing and turning in her bed for what seemed like hours now, her eyes tired but her mind refusing to rest. This didn’t happen often. Being a martial artist champion meant Ran had a very healthy lifestyle—early to bed and early to rise. It also meant when the day ended, Ran almost always walked home aching all over, body worn out from the training she did in club after class. Coupled that with the housework she’d got to do, plus the cleaning up after her Dad, and Ran was often exhausted. Sleep never eluded her for long.

 

But tonight, like every other time when it concerned Shinichi, Ran couldn’t stop herself from thinking. From worrying. Her worry activated in her mind scenarios after scenarios, where Shinichi was still investigating a case, where Shinichi was going crazy dealing with her mother, where Shinichi was in trouble, where Shinichi was too distracted to get out of the way of traffic, where Shinichi was bleeding on the ground and waiting for help!

 

Ran abruptly sat up, scrambling for her cell phone the hundredth time that hour. She winced a little when the screen were turned on, its blinding light struck her eyes in the dark. Pressing Shinichi’s hotkey, Ran called her again, anxious for Shinichi to pick up.

 

_The person you’ve called is not availa—_

 

Frustrated, Ran hung up, then rolled up her phone list for the Kudou’s landline and made the call, but couldn’t reach anyone either. She hadn’t received any news from Shinichi since Shinichi’s last message to her, replying to Ran’s question if she was home yet.

 

_Stop fretting, you worrywart. On a case right now. Call you later._

 

And that was more than three hours ago. No phone call, no message whatsoever, no matter how many texts and voice messages Ran had sent. What case was it that took Shinichi so long?

 

Ran was being irrational, she knew. It wasn’t unusual that Shinichi was utterly absorbed in a case and forgot to answer Ran’s texts. In fact, it happened way too often. And if Shinichi was lurking around for her investigations (which Sonoko simply called spying), she always turned off her phone and then often forgot to turn it up. Also, a few hours for a case wasn’t abnormally long. There were times before when Shinichi had spent her entire weekend on a job, barely remembered to eat and rest, least of all telling Ran what was going on. Argh, just thinking about those times made Ran want to punch something.

 

But as much as she tried to convince herself with rational explanations for Shinichi’s unresponsiveness, Ran couldn’t calm herself down enough to sleep. The sense of foreboding since that afternoon kept haunting her thoughts, making her anxious and restless.

 

 _Come on, Ran, believe in my splendid brilliance!_ Ran imagined what Shinichi would say, if her friend knew about her current mental state. _You know I’ll be alright, I’ve never let you down before, have I?_ Shinichi would smile at her, knowing and assuring, eyes radiating a kind of confidence that never failed to amaze Ran.

 

Ran’s anxiety temporarily ebbed away, replaced by the old fond exasperation. _Oh that cocky detective,_ she thought, _where did she get all that overwhelming self-assurance?_ Because honestly, Shinichi acted like she really believed everything would go her way, no matter what. And it certainly appeared so, to Ran’s sometimes irritation. Shinichi made everything seem so easy that she left people around her feeling hopelessly inadequate in turn. Ran herself had once been envious of Shinichi, wishing so much to be like the detective until she took up karate and realized, this could be her own way, this could be where Ran excelled when her friend did not.

 

Well, when looking at it like that, the self-assurance Shinichi projected maybe wasn’t that difficult to understand. It must be similar to what Ran always felt when facing off her opponent on the sparring mat—the quiet belief that she would triumph, regardless of the actual outcome—the quiet belief of one who had the backing of her own talent, and years of dedication behind that.

 

Heaving out a long sigh, Ran looked out of her bedside window. Somewhere far away, the police sirens was wailing. Ran imagined it was where Shinichi was, that the case was finally concluded and Shinichi could finally go home and rest. The detective clearly needed it. Hopefully when Ran met her tomorrow, she was better focused than today. Maybe Ran would have to get up a bit early so she could come to Shinichi’s house and wake her up. Just in case Shinichi was too tired and slept in. Then Ran could ream her out for not calling as promised. Maybe demanding a lunch treat or two.

 

Lying back down on the bed, her thought drowsy, Ran closed her eyes and waited for sleep to come, this time.

 

Her doze lasted for just a blink of an eye before the increasing noise outside the window forced her to wake up. The sound of evidently numerous people rushing on the street, whispering furiously, accompanied with the sound of children wailing loudly in distress, bewildered and troubled Ran. _What on Earth is going on?_

 

Looking through the windows offered her no answers. All Ran could see was a large crowd of people gathering, their movements greatly agitated, and her neighbors poking their sleepy heads through open windows and doors, evidently curious just like Ran.

 

Ran quickly donned a coat over her pyjamas and walked out of the room, intent to get downstairs and find out what had happened.

 

“Wa s’it, ‘an? —soo loud...” Kogorou Mouri appeared out of the entrance of his own bedroom, hugging the wall to keep standing upright. His hair was a mess, his eyes bloodshot from all the drinking. His voice was slurring, scratchy from sleep and the large yawn he made wasn’t helping his speech any.

 

“I don’t know, Dad,” Ran replied, “I’m going to ask them.”

 

“Wait ‘ere ‘bit,” her father said, stifling another huge yawn, one foot already stepping back toward his room. “I’ll… waaha… go with you.”

 

Before Ran could speak, she caught a series of faint popping sounds, followed by the distantly roaring of car engines, then the barely distinct screeching sound of car tires, some crashing and the sudden blaring of the police’s sirens. All sounds got smaller and smaller as though they were speeding further and further away. The furious talking outside on the other hand, turned up its volume.

 

Not waiting for her father, Ran rushed down the stairs and opened the door that led outside. Something big was happening, and Ran had a bad feeling about it.

 

“What’s going on?!” she cried, her words lost into the chaotic, terrified crowd. No one seemed to hear her—all of them were in a panic, trying to get themselves out of the road, pressing their body into the walls of the buildings, or crouching down the pavement for fear of the chase following them here.

 

“Ma’am, what’s going on?” Ran asked again, this time to a chubby woman she realized having met several times before on her way to and fro Shinichi’s house. Like Ran, the woman was still in her sleep attire, covered up with a flimsy coat. She looked scared and small, unlike the cheerful lady who Ran usually saw talking to people with her infectious, spirited laughters.

 

The woman looked up at Ran with wide eyes, stuttering, “I... I don’t... I don’t know. Is... is that _gunshots_?!” The end of her question rose up in high-pitched hysteria.

 

Ran wanted to calm her down, but she hadn’t even gotten a word out when she heard a thundering sound blasting somewhere near, followed by a wave of rumbles that rippled the earth where she was standing. Around her people erupted into screams of terror, but in Ran’s mind there was only one paralyzing thoughts:

 

_Explosion. In Shinichi’s home’s direction._

 

Blanked out, Ran wasn’t aware of what she had been doing until a grip on her arm jerked her back, her father’s voice shouting in her ears.

 

“Ran! Stop! Ran! Where are you going?! Get out of the way!”

 

Keeping his firm grip on her, Kogorou dragged her back to the pavement, staying out of the ways of the fire trucks coming.

 

Dazed, Ran’s eyes glazed over the line of vehicles charging by them, towards the column of smoke that began to rise. With the red lights flashing and different sirens blaring, everything felt like a surreal dream. She could only half register when her father questioned someone beside them.

 

“What’s going on around here?? Does anyone know where that explosion is??”

 

“I don’t know,” said a thin man with crooked glasses—the chubby woman’s husband, Ran recognized. “We were on our bed, sleeping. Then the police knocked our door down and told us to evacuate.”

 

“We didn’t save anything!” The woman sobbed wildly into her husband’s shoulder. “They made us go immediately and we didn’t get to take anything with us! God, our house, why did this happen, oh God, oh God!”

 

“Calm down, Michiko,” said the husband, hands rubbing up and down the woman’s side comfortingly. “It’ll be alright. At least we’re all here, safe and sound. It’ll be alright, you’ll see.”

 

“Luckily the wind is calm tonight. Let’s hope the fire won’t spread far. Where are you living?” Kogorou finally asked the question Ran wanted to know the most. _Please..._

 

“District 2. Number 19.”

 

Ran’s heart faltered, her knees going weak. Then with a surge of strength, she broke out of her father’s loosened hold, running toward the thick column of smoke and fire.

 

“Ran! No! It’s dangerous!”

 

Ran heard the pounding footsteps of her father behind her, but she paid him no mind. Flashing through Ran’s panic was her last sight of her best friend, jogging away, hand waving in a goodbye.

 

_Please, don’t leave me. Please don’t leave me Shinichi!_

 

  

* * *

 

 It must have been a scene cut out right from a horrific nightmare.

 

The fire was raging through the block of house that was Shinichi’s neighborhood, and Shinichi’s house was in the exact middle. Mammoth and ablaze, the fire swallowed the home of Ran’s childhood friend in gluttonous crackles, ruthlessly gnawing and tearing their foundation apart. Billows of smoke rose and expanded into the air space, hovering above the site of destruction, breathing out choking hot puffs that smelled of scorched wood, melted paint and ashes.

 

Ran wondered if it was that enormous library that caused so large a fire. The library that Shinichi so—

 

That was not important now, and Ran pulled her mind far away from it. As fast as she could, she speared her way to the heated front, vaulted over the broken barricades of siren-flashing police cars, weaving through the row of fire engines and ambulances and shouldered her way past the firefighters and the police. Around her people were frantically shouting, yelling, urging, trying to move the wounded and contain the spreading of the fire. But she had only one person in her mind.

 

Squinting through the tears caused by heat and the acrid air, Ran searched for the dearly familiar sight of her best friend. Shinichi had to be around here somewhere, amidst this mad chaos but still away from harm, busy carrying out her usual detective work when still brandishing her imperturbable calm—explaining, advising, directing. Shinichi knew better, she _must_ have known better than to try and do anything foolish. Shinichi would have more sense than that. She must have.

 

_But did she?_

 

No, Ran, focus, Ran told herself. What would Shinichi do? Where would she be? Or... rather, who would she be with?

 

Ran scanned around again, this time looking specifically for the police. There were many officers working at the site, in different uniforms. Half of them Ran guessed were from the special force—they were covered head to toe with a specific kind of armour that was their protection from bullets and explosion blasts. Ran’s eyes glided over them—as a detective, Shinichi would most likely be working with—there!

 

Facing away from her was the familiar portly figure in suit. No one who knew him could ever mistake him with that hat, even in a crowd. He was talking to two other police, their conversation loud enough to be heard faintly above the surrounding noise. The closer Ran walked to them, the clearer she heard them talk.

 

“... ’bout ....mother?”

 

“... disappeared. ...couldn’t contact her.”

 

“...spector, isn’t it looking, kind of, suspicious?”

 

“Don’t be hasty. Apart from that guy’s insinuation, we don’t have any evidence and we don’t even know if it’s true.”

 

“Inspector Megure?” asked Ran timidly, when she had come close.

 

Hearing the call, the man looked back, wary eyes changing into recognition when he saw the girl. “Check her activities tonight and try to find her. If she’s innocent, they’ll be looking for her too,” he turned to dismiss his officers before addressing Ran.

 

“Mori-san,” he greeted. “Civilians aren’t allowed to come here. It’s dangerous.” Megure was trying to be stern, but his eyes betrayed his bone-deep exhaustion and something, something dark and heavy and disquieting.

 

Heart jumping into her mouth, pulses beating uncomfortably fast, Ran stumbled over her words. “Shi–Sorry, I’m look—looking for Shinichi... You know where she is?”

 

He didn’t answer her. Instead, he was just watching her with those dark eyes; a small muscle around his mouth jolted uncontrollably.

 

“Please,” she faintly added, desperation tinting her voice.

 

Inspector Megure pressed his lips tighter. His eyes now were cast over by something else. Numbly, Ran recognized it as pity.

 

Maybe she misunderstood him, she thought. Maybe it wasn’t... Maybe Shinichi wasn’t... Maybe she...

 

Ran looked around, feeling as if she was trapped in water. Shinichi must have been injured. Maybe she was being carried to one of the ambulances. That was what Megure’s pity meant, _not—_ Shinichi was just needing care—Ran just needed to find Shinichi and care for her.

 

But before she could take off running again, two strong hands gripped her arms and held her up against a hard chest.

 

“Megure, what’s happened? Tell me!” It was her father’s voice. Part demanding and part at loss.

 

The Inspector told them then, his voice tight and controlled when Kogorou and Ran listened in incredulity, trying hopelessly to catch up. They could hardly believe all that had happened.

 

“You are saying,” Kogorou enunciated, “the father was dead, and although the girl knew there was an explosive trap she walked into it anyway?”

 

Megure exhaled heavily. “Yes. She brought with her a bug so we could hear what she was hearing and follow her instructions. It’s her who discovered the house was full of gas and told us to take necessary measures. Without her the casualties would be... much greater.”

 

“Then Shinichi... then Shinichi...,” Ran choke—couldn’t get the next words out—couldn’t even _think_ of the next words.

 

“She couldn’t get out in time,” Megure said, turning his head away.

 

“No,” Ran whispered. Refusing to accept it, Ran turned to the burning down house and cried out, “Shinichi? Shinichi!!”

 

Wildly, Ran struggled out of her father’s tight grips. The consuming urgency to reach—to find—to save Shinichi overwhelmed her. “Shinichi!! SHINICHI ANSWER ME!!!” Ran screamed. God, she couldn’t do it this way! How could Shinichi hear her this way! She was too far away!!! Ran clawed at the hands holding her back, desperate to get out, to come closer. “Let me go! Dad, let me go!”

 

“Ran, stop, Ran, please! You can’t go there!”

 

“No! No you don’t understand!” Ran heard herself cry. “It’s _Shinichi_! It’s Shinichi and she can’t—She just needs _help_!” _Don’t they understand?!_ Ran wanted to shout at their face. _It’s Shinichi, she’s the smartest person we know! She’ll find a way to stay alive! She just can’t get out without help! Stop dragging me away, **she**_ **needs _me_** _!_ Unaware that she had screamed the last thought out loud, Ran stiffened, preparing her body to break out of her father’s iron hold.

 

“Mori-san, please,” Megure’s voice managed to cut through to her. The anguished words were alarming and she was instantly petrified, dreading to hear the rest. “It’s too late.” With his eyes shutting tight, his body recoiling, he said, “We heard her.”

 

 _Heard...heard what...?_ Ran’s breath hitched, her blood ran away from her face.

 

“What did you mean, you heard her?!” Kogorou demanded.

 

Megure hesitated for a moment. “This isn’t something I’m supposed to tell you,” he said. He was indecisive a little longer before saying, “Shinichi-kun had confronted them, the intruders, on her own. She managed to stall them for a while, but then they overwhelmed her and knocked her out.”

 

The inspector could barely look at Ran’s horrified eyes. His body screamed torment when he finally continued, “They set their sight on killing her, it seemed. Before leaving and igniting the explosion, they... we can’t be sure, but they did something to her.”

 

“We heard her,” he repeated, eyes squeezed shut as if trying to block out the sounds of the past, sounds Ran could imagine hearing.

 

So... Shinichi was... had been... in pain? Not only was her house destroyed, she had been in pain, too? Why? What had Shinichi done to deserve that? How could anyone—

 

But there would always be _someone_. Ran knew this. Had always known this. Shinichi was a detective, the brightest there was, and possibly would be. But Shinichi’s brilliance wasn’t the simple, inconsequential brilliance of a kid playing a kid’s game. She solved homicides—she _was bound_ to confronting homicidal criminals—she did, all the time. She had created enemies, too many of them. Was it too much a leap that this time, they themselves went and found her first? That was, that was why Ran was always worried, that was why Ran was always afraid. But did Shinichi listen? Of course not. Of course she never did. And now, look at how it’d turned out.

 

“Ran, let’s go home. Let’s go home and rest.” Her father’s hand was hot and damp on her dropping shoulder, gently tugging her away. Ran wanted to stay, to witness... but she could muster up no strength to resist. With sickness rolling in waves in her stomach, she wasn’t sure if she really wanted to see.

 

“Mori-san,” Megure suddenly called Ran. When Kogorou and Ran paused to look back at him, he said, "I promise you. Whoever committed this crime, we’ll find out. We won’t stop until we expose their identities and bring back justice to Shinichi-kun and her father. They are dear to us too,” he softly added.

 

Ran attempted to nod, to show she had heard and understood. But she really didn’t. Understand, that was. Shinichi, too, often talked about justice, about the truth. But right now Ran didn’t need either of them.

 

Right now, Ran just needed Shinichi.

 

  

* * *

 

 The night slowly passed by with Ran lying still on the bed, her eyes wide awake but not really seeing anything at all.

 

Her mother had come to stay some time after her father got her home. Ran vaguely remembered hearing him whisper frantically on the phone, pacing restlessly while Ran sat on the sofa of their detective office, looking blankly at the pale green wall. Then Kisaki arrived, with all the tender and enveloping warmth of a mother, and Ran had wanted nothing more than to fall into that encompassing embrace, to bawl her heart out on her mother’s shoulder, and let herself be comforted, and be promised that nothing had happened, that everything had just been a childish bad dream.

 

But Ran’s tears had refused to come, and her mother had offered up no empty promises.

 

Kisaki had made for Ran a glass of warm milk after that. It was among the few excellent dishes Ran’s mother could make, and Ran took a sip, finally was able to summon up a faint grateful smile for her. The simple gesture reminded Ran of a much more happy and carefree time, when her parents hadn’t separated and Ran’d got both of them fussing around when she was sick. Three, actually, Shi—

 

“Go to bed, Ran. You need rest,” Kisaki had gently taken the barely diminished milk glass out of Ran’s shaking hands. 

 

Pliant, Ran had sat up and leaned on her father’s guiding hand to go upstairs, where her mother quickly opened the Ran’s bedroom door for them to come in and then helped Ran prepare for bed, while her father was waiting outside.

 

“Try to sleep, Ran. I’m here until morning if you need me,” Kisaki had whispered against Ran’s forehead before she turned off the light. She lingered a little bit more to watch Ran obediently close her eyes before stepping out of the room. There had been sounds of a hushed conversation before Ran’s parents’ soft footsteps moved away from her door completely.

 

Lying in the dark, Ran had tried—she really had—to keep her eyes close, but only a moment later they slid open. Darkness somehow intensified the glaring red burned behind Ran’s eyelids, and made the sounds grow too loud and unbearable. The memory of the fire, its colors, its sight, its sounds kept circling in Ran’s head, chasing its own tail, sticking there no matter how much Ran tried to think about something else.

 

After a while, from not being able to sleep, Ran started to fear the prospect of sleeping. She wondered if she’d just relieve everything that had happened the second she fell asleep, the nightmare waiting for her to walk into its breathless, unrelenting hold.

 

She thought about talking to somebody. Her mother was right here, she could just go downstairs and speak to her. But Ran was reluctant to—she didn’t know what they could talk about, didn’t even know where to begin. Then Ran thought of Sonoko. Sonoko possibly hadn’t even known anything. Ran should call her and tell her, tell her that...

 

Ran sat up, picked up the phone, and only now that she remembered how late it was. She didn’t want to wake Sonoko up, but... maybe a text message instead.

 

_Sonoko, Shinichi is—_

 

_Was_

 

Ran stared at the words, her heart suddenly beating so fast, so forceful Ran could feel the pulsing in her temples. Her throat stopped up, her breath stuck. She heard in her head again the roaring and hissing of the searing fire that devoured all, the crashing of bricks and concrete crushing down everything underneath, the imagined sound of Shinichi, in pain, _screaming_ —and she couldn’t—couldn’t— _couldn’t breathe!_

 

Pain stabbing through her side, Ran curled up, dropped her head on the crooks of her arms and tried to drag into her lungs gulps of oxygen. _Breathe,_ a distant voice echoed to her, reminding her through the haze of her struggles, _breathe, Ran._

 

 _“The trick, Ran, is to keep their breathing slow and regular,_ ” _Shinichi said. “In their panic attack, they just forget how to breathe. You have to remind them that. Breathe with them. Show them. In through the nose, out through pursed lips. And then count to three. Like this.” With one hand, Shinichi counted with her fingers—1, 2, 3—hold breath—1, 2—then exhaled, slowly—1, 2, 3..._  
  


_One-two-three_. Ran counted to herself. Held her breath, then exhaled. _One-two-three._

 

After a while and several rounds of breathing like that, unconsciousness teetering just behind the corners of her eyes, Ran’s panic loosened its grip, her pulses slowing down. Although she still felt like fainting, she could at least breathe normally again. Trembling, Ran flopped down to the bed, her limbs sprawling on the sheet. _God, that was close. If it wasn’t for Shinichi..._ Ran stopped her thought there.

 

She continued to lie on the bed for some time, breathing and not particularly thinking about anything, just listening to the sounds around her. Then feeling restless and not able to bear the silence and the darkness any longer, Ran sat up and got out of the bed. She needed to do something, to keep her mind occupied with something else. She could clean the house again; the dishes and the cutlery could take an all-over wash, especially the reserve ones buried at the bottom of the cabinets. She could reorganize her father’s office. Kogorou’s office was always in a mess.

 

When Ran got to step outside the office, she heard murmurs coming from inside. The night was quiet, so it wasn’t difficult to recognize her parents’ conversation through the small gap of the door.

 

“They escaped the police?” asked Ran’s mother.

 

“Yeah,” said her father. “Megure’s officers lost sight of their car. The police radio connections were messed up somehow. The teams were all uncoordinated.”

 

“That’s strange.”

 

“They’re suspecting interference from the inside.”

 

Kisaki said something else in return, but Ran didn’t hear it. Feeling suddenly drained, she abandoned the idea of doing housework and came back to her room.

 

_What had you gotten yourself into, Shinichi?_

 

_Had you always known?_

 

_“They set their sight on killing her, it seemed.”_

 

_The bad dreams, the terror, the spacing out, the jumpiness… They make so much sense now. Shinichi, did you know this would happen? That someone would attack you? Why didn’t you say anything?_

 

_Why, Shinichi? Why didn’t you get out of the house? Why didn’t you call me?? Why didn’t you ask for my help?? I would have come. I could have…_

 

_“They’re suspecting interference from the inside.”_

 

_Could have done what..?_

 

_“We heard her.”_

 

Somewhere at the depth of her core, Ran felt like burning up, as if there was a magma pool forming inside her stomach, viscous, greedy, just seething to erupt. Hot tears sliding down her cheeks, she imagined screaming out, imagined sweeping things down from the table and slamming her fists into it, felt like tearing things up, felt like opening up her mouth and let scorching heat pour out like lava, destroying, consuming, setting the world on fire.

 

And that still wouldn’t be enough.

 

A wisp of cool wind brushed by her heated flesh, and Ran realized she had been standing in front of the open window for a while, her hands turning white from clutching the windowsill. She would have stayed there looking blankly at blackened sky for longer, lost in the hurt and rage… if she hadn’t noticed a small body lying face down in front of her door.

 

“Ran?!” Her parents’ alarmed call followed her when she tramped down the stairs in three long steps and rushed out of the door. She paid them no mind.

 

_It can’t be…_

 

But she couldn’t stop the small spark of hope.

 

That person was tiny though, and now that she was nearer, she could notice the chestnut brown hair, _shorter too_ , barely covering the person’s nape. Ran’s soul wanted to curl up and cry, but she pushed the feeling away, got down on her knees to shake at the small shoulder.

 

“Hey, are you all right? Hey.” Ran rolled the child up, taking in the too-big white coat ( _is that a lab coat?_ ) she was wearing. There was no reaction except a flutter of eyelashes. The child was barely conscious. And worse, Ran realized, she was burning up.

 

“Who is this? Why is she here?” Ran’s mother kneeled down next to her. Her father was standing right behind.

 

“I don’t know…” Ran answered. “But she needs medical care right away. She’s got a high fever.”

 

“Let take her inside.”

 

“Here, let me carry her.” Her father’s strong arms lifted the child up and quickly brought her inside. Kisaki and Ran followed his heels.

 

“Do you think she’s the daughter of someone from district 2?” Kogorou asked. Ran flinched. “Maybe she got lost in the crowd.”

 

“With a fever like this, she must be quite sick for some time. What kind of parents would take their eyes off her like that?” Kisaki said, throwing Kogorou a severe glance. “Ran, can you go get a blanket?”

 

“I’m on it.”

 

“Look at her clothes. Why are they so big? And she’s only wearing a shirt beneath the coat! ”

 

“Perhaps we should call the police. She seems to be a runaway. She doesn’t even wear shoes.”

 

“Let us give her some medicine first. And something for her feet. They’re bleeding. Kogorou, bring some ice water here. And a small towel too.” Kisaki ordered Kogorou, then went to search for the medical cabinet herself.

 

When Ran came back to the office bringing the extra blanket, she was shocked to see the small child already awake and stumbling to the door.

 

“Wait! Where are you going? You’re sick!” Ran exclaimed. The child winced but continued to the door anyway. When Ran got close enough to seize her shoulders and spinned her over, the girl struggled to get out of Ran’s grasp.

 

“Let me go,” she said, weakly. “I’m fine.”

 

_I’m fine, Ran._

 

“No! You’re not fine at all, Shi—!” Eyes wide, Ran cut off. “You’re having a fever. Please stay here for a bit. We’ll call your parents to get you,” she backtracked, belatedly loosened her bruising grip on the girl’s shoulders.

 

The girl stubbornly shook her head. “No. I can’t. I can’t st—.” She stopped, her body swaying. Her knees gave out soon later.

 

“Hey, little girl, hey!”

 

Lifting the child up, Ran once again brought her to the sofa to rest. Kogorou and Kisaki now came back to their side.

 

“How was she? Did she just wake up?”

 

“Yes, Mom. She couldn’t get far though. She was too weak.”

 

Ran was about to go get the blanket she had dropped down when a tiny hand came up to clutch at her shirt.

 

“Please... don’t call… anyone,” the child pleaded. Ran stared at her, bewildered. “Wha..?”

 

“Promise me… please! No one can know!” the child was grasping at Ran’s shirt with two hands now, trying to pull herself up. She looked so distressed Ran didn’t want to upset her anymore.

 

“Okay, okay. I promise. I won’t call anyone,” Ran placated. “Just go to sleep. We’ll talk later.”

 

“Wait,” Kisaki said, holding out half a pill in her hand, “drink this first before you sleep. It’ll help you get better.”

 

But the child shook her head, slowlier this time, then closed her eyes and fell into the slumber’s feverish embrace.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know you guys won't appreciate this chapter now, especially after a four-year-long wait. But trust me, it is needed. It's one of DF's cornerstones actually, and it will set off a chain of events on its own. 
> 
> And also, I'd like to remind you that this story is not solely about KaiShin relationship. Defining Femininity was born of a desire to discover the true meaning of being feminine, and DC universe with its richness of female characters is perfect for my ambition. 
> 
> Tl;dr: you will see more of Ran (and Vermouth, and Haibara, and Sonoko, and all other girls) in the future. *cough whenever I get there cough*

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to Sailorstar165 for fixing this chapter! Other mistakes unfixed are all mine, and I'll be glad to correct them if you just tell me where. :D
> 
> I'm not a native speaker and not the fastest of person, so my writing speed will be worse than a snail, sorry for that. And because I'm not a native speaker, I really need your feedback. Feel free to tell me what you think or whatever you want. (Yeah I'm just into this and already a slave to reviews. XD)
> 
> Thank you for reading!


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